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A  HISTORY  OF 
THE  PACIFIC  NORTHWEST 


•Tl 


^^^^ 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW   YORK    -    BOSTON    •    CHICAGO    •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA    •    SAN    FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,   Limited 

LONDON    •    BOMBAY    •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
OF  CANADA,  Limited 

TORONTO 


(The  different  scales  that  are  used  should 
Map  reproduced  from  Roscoe  L.  Ashley's  "  The 


SAMOAN  I8LA 

(Aioerle^n  PoteMloi 


CARISBEaIv    sea    S»HTAg£Z 

WKST  INDIES  .„,,  „  „,us 

(American  Pot>es»lonB)      p   ip  ai  30  «r5o 


be  noted  with  particular  care.) 

New  Civics,"  published  by  the  MacniiUan  Company. 


A  History  of 
the  Pacific  Northwest 


BY 

JOSEPH  SCHAFER,  Ph.D. 

Head  of  the   Department  of  History,  University  of  Oregon;  Sometims 

Fellow    in   History,    University   of    Wisconsin;    Joint   Anthoi 

of  Strong  and  Schafer's  "Government  of  the  American 

People";  Author  of  "The  Origin  of  the  System 

of  Land  Grants  in  Aid  of  Education,"  *  The 

Pacific  Slope  and  Alaska,"  etc. 


REVISED  AND  REWRITTEN 
WITH  MAPS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS 


•N«»  fork 
THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1930 


COPTBIGHT,    1905  AKD   1918, 

Bt  the  macmillan  company. 


All  rights  reserved  —  no  part  of  this 

book  may  be  reproduced  in  any  form 

without  permission  in  writing  from 

the  publisher. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  May,  1905. 
New  edition,  revised  and  rewritten.    Published  January,  1918. 


■  FKIMTED  IN  THE   CNTTZD  STATES  OP  AKESICA  < 


FREDERIC    G.    YOUNG,    A.B. 

'  PROFESSOR  OF  ECONOMICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY 

^  UNIVERSITY  OF  OREGON 

WHOSE  WORK   AS  SECRETARY  OF  THE  OREGON   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

ri  FROM   THE  TIME  OF  ITS    FOUNDATION   HAS  SIMPLIFIED   THE 

'^  TASK  OF  EVERY  INVESTIGATOR  IN  THE  FIELD 

N 
f\\K  OF  NORTHWESTERN  HISTORY 


? 


1H(«84 


PREFACE  TO  THE  REVISED  EDITION 

The  new  material  accumulated  during  the  past 
twelve  years  since  the  original  publication  of  the  His- 
tory of  the  Pacific  Northwest  has  rendered  necessary 
not  a  mere  revision  of  that  work  but  on  many  essential 
points  a  complete  rewriting  of  it.  This  is  notably 
true  of  the  chapters  dealing  with  the  history  of  the 
Oregon  boundary  negotiation  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain.  It  is  true  also  of  parts  of 
the  balance  of  the  early  part  of  the  work.  Moreover, 
since  the  movement  in  this  comparatively  new  region 
is  very  rapid  and  a  single  decade  sometimes  revolu- 
tionizes conditions,  it  was  felt  to  be  necessary  to  add 
special  chapters  on  the  Progress  of  Agriculture,  In- 
dustry and  Commerce,  and  Social  and  Political 
Change.  With  this  additional  matter  it  would  seem 
as  if  the  story  of  the  Pacific  Northwest  were  in  this 
book  brought  down  to  the  actual  present. 

The  author  is  under  great  obligations  to  the  man- 
agement of  the  Record  Office  at  London,  England, 
for  permission  to  use  files  of  papers  relating  to  the 
Oregon  Question;  to  the  late  Ambassador  Whitelaw 
Reid  for  his  courtesy  in  securing  for  him  access  to 
all  available  materials  in  London;  and  to  Lord  Stan- 
more  for  permission  to  examine  and  use  papers  of 


Preface  to  the  Revised  Edition 

Lord  Aberdeen.  He  is  also  under  obligations  to  the 
Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington,  D.  C,  for  as- 
sistance in  unearthing  important  manuscripts  con- 
tained in  the  archives  at  Washington. 


Joseph  Schafer. 


University  of  Oregon, 
Eugene,  Oregon,  October  23,  1917. 


CONTENTS 


Preface 

CHAPTER 

I 


PAGE 
V 


Early  Explorers  of  the  Pacific  Coast    .         1-14 
II    Discovery  of  Puget  Sound  and  Columbia 

River 15-28 

III  Origin  of  the  Lew^is  and  Clark  Expedi- 

tion            29-46 

IV  Opening  a  Highw^ay  to  the  Pacific  .     .      47-61 
V    The  Fur  Trade  on  the  Columbia     .     .       62-78 

VI    The  Hudson  Bay  Company       ....       79-^7 

VII    Early  Phases  of  the  Oregon  Question   .  88-104 

VIII    Pioneers  of  the  Pioneers 105-126 

IX    The  Colonizing  Movement 127-141 

X    The  First  Great  Migration     ....  142-156 
XI    The  First  American  Government  on  the 

Pacific 157-172 

XII    The  Oregon  Boundary  Settled    .     .     .  173-185 

XIII  The  Territory  of  Oregon 186-197 

XIV  The  Northwest  and  California  .     .     .  198-206 
XV    Progress  and  Politics 207-218 

XVI    The  Inland  Empire 21^22^ 

XVII    The  Age  of  Railways 230-245^ 

XVIII    The  Progress  of  Agriculture    ....  246-268 

XIX    Industry  and  Commerce 269-289 

XX    Social  and  Political  Change  .....  290-307 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Map    showing   the    territorial    growth    of    the 

United    States Frontispiece 

PAGE 

The   Sea   Otter i6 

The  Lewis  and  Clark  map  executed  at  Fort  Clatsop     .     60 

Astoria  in  1813 60 

The  mouth  of  the  Columbia;  vessel  standing  in  between 

the  capes 68 

Fort  Vancouver  as  sketched  by  Lieut.  Henry  Warre, 

1845        82 

The  Rocky  Mountains  as  seen  from  the  east ;  the  ascent 

is  very  gradual 108 

In  the  Heart  of  the  Mountains.    A  view  of  the  Colum- 
bia River  Gorge.     Copyrighted  by  Sarah  A.  Ladd  122 

The  deep-worn  Oregon  trail  as  it  looked  in  1900     .      .154 

Jesse   Applegate 166 

Modern  Flouring  Mill,  Spokane,  Washington,  successor 
of  one  of  the  pioneer  mills 258 

One  of  the   fruit-growing  regions   of  the  Northwest. 

The  Hood  River  Valley 264 

A  view  of  the  water  front  in  Seattle,  Washington  .      .  286 

Panoramic  view  of  Portland,  Oregon,  Mount  Hood  in 

the  distance 300 

Type  buildings  in  one  of  the  northwestern  cities     .     .  306 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE   PACIFIC 
NORTHWEST 

CHAPTER  I 

EARLY    EXPLORERS    OF    THE    PACIFIC    COAST 

Balboa  discovers  the  Pacific.  It  is  a  far  cry  from 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama  to  the  capes  above  Bering's 
Strait;  and  the  explorations  which  unveiled  that  long 
coast  line  form  a  thrilling  chapter  in  the  history  of  our 
continent.  The  story  opens  on  the  twenty-fifth  of 
September,  15 13,  when  Balboa,  surrounded  by  sixty 
Spanish  companions,  stood  on  a  peak  of  the  Darien 
Mountains  and  gazed  with  the  rapture  of  a  discoverer 
on  the  waters  of  the  South  Sea.  It  closes,  practically, 
two  hundred  and  sixty-five  years  later  when  Captain 
Cook  rounded  the  "  western  extremity  of  all  America," 
in  latitude  65°  and  46',  calling  the  point  of  land  Cape 
Prince  of  Wales. 

Claims  its  coasts  for  Spain.  Balboa,  at  the  mo- 
ment of  his  discovery,  proclaimed  that  the  coasts  and 
islands  pertaining  to  the  South  Sea  belonged  to  Spain. 
Four  days  later  he  reached  the  shore  at  the  Gulf  of 
San  Miguel  and,  thereupon,  took  possession  in  a  more 
formal  manner,  among  other  things,  marching  into  the 
surf  at  the  head  of  his  party. 

I 


2  A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

The  search  for  a  "  strait."  Such  dramatic  formal- 
ities rarely  have  much  effect  upon  the  course  of  his- 
tory, yet  the  discovery  itself  was  a  great  triumph  for 
the  Spanish  government.  Since  the  time  of  Columbus, 
their  navigators  had  been  searching  among  the  West 
Indies,  and  along  the  Atlantic  Coast  of  South  and 
Central  America,  in  the  blind  hope  of  finding  an  open 
passage  to  the  Orient.  They  failed  because,  as  it  was 
supposed,  Nature  had  sown  islands  so  thickly  in  this 
part  of  the  ocean  that  it  was  very  difficult,  or  impos- 
sible, for  ships  to  pick  their  way  among  them.  The 
numerous  failures  had  discouraged  many.  But  when 
Balboa  reached  the  sea  by  marching  overland  a  few 
miles  from  the  Darien  coast  no  one  any  longer  doubted 
that  a  convenient  westward  route  existed,  if  it  could 
only  be  found.  Generally,  it  was  assumed  that  the 
passage  would  be  found  north  of  the  Isthmus.  Ma- 
gellan soon  afterward  proved  that  there  was  a  way 
around  South  America,  but  it  was  very  difficult,  and 
far  out  of  the  direct  course  from  Europe  to  Eastern 
Asia.  The  necessity  still  remained,  therefore,  to  find 
"the  strait,"  and  the  discovery  of  the  Pacific,  with 
other  contemporaneous  events,  stimulated  the  search  in 
an  extraordinary  manner. 

During  the  sixteenth  century  the  nation  most  in- 
terested in  the  discovery  of  the  strait  joining  the  two 
great  oceans  was  Spain.  Portugal  had  been  her  great 
rival  in  the  effort  to  find  an  all-water  route  to  the 
Indies,  and  while  Columbus  was  making  heroic  but 
fruitless  efforts  to  break  through  the  ocean  barriers  to 


Early  Explorers  of  the  Pacific  Coast  3 

the  west,  Vasco  da  Gama  had  opened  a  way  for  his 
countrymen  around  Africa.  This  route  the  Portu- 
guese monopolized,  and  they  were  amassing  wealth 
from  the  profits  of  the  spice  trade  with  the  Moluccas. 
In  order  to  share  in  that  most  lucrative  branch  of  com- 
merce, it  was  absolutely  necessary  for  Spain  to  com- 
plete her  hopeful  western  waterway  by  the  discovery 
of  the  indispensable  strait.  Now  that  a  footing  had 
been  secured  on  the  Pacific,  it  was  determined  to  fol- 
low up  the  search  from  that  side  as  well  as  from  the 
Atlantic. 

First  suggestion  of  an  Isthmian  canal.  The  first 
ships  to  sail  upon  the  Pacific  were  launched  by  Balboa 
himself  in  the  year  15 17.  They  were  built  on  the 
Panama  coast,  some  of  the  timbers  for  their  construc- 
tion being  carried  across  the  mountains  on  the  backs 
of  Indian  slaves.  Aside  from  building  the  vessels, 
however,  Balboa  achieved  very  little.  He  coasted 
along  the  shore  for  some  distance,  gathered  gold  and 
pearls  from  the  natives,  and  returned  to  Darien  to  meet 
death  at  the  hands  of  political  enemies.  About  six 
years  later  two  other  Spaniards  explored  northwest- 
ward from  Panama  as  far  as  the  Gulf  of  Fonseca,  dis- 
covering Lake  Nicaragua.  This  lake,  it  was  hoped, 
with  the  stream  flowing  from  it  to  the  Atlantic,  and  a 
very  short  canal  through  the  level  ground  on  the  west, 
might  afford  a  practicable  passage  from  ocean  to  ocean. 
Thus  early  (1525)  was  suggested  the  idea  of  the  inter- 
oceanic  canal. 

Spain  by  this  time  was  in  possession  of  the  rich  val- 


4  A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

ley  of  Mexico,  where  Cortez  had  recently  overthrown 
the  power  of  the  Aztec  confederacy.  It  was  the  most 
important  territory  of  the  New  World  yet  brought 
under  subjection  by  Europeans.  The  land  was  rich, 
its  resources  were  varied,  and  the  position  it  occupied 
between  the  two  seas  was  a  commanding  one. 

Mexico  becomes  the  Spanish  base  in  North  Amer- 
ica. It  was  natural  that  the  colony  planted  in  Mexico 
should  become  the  center  of  new  explorations.  Cortez, 
ever  on  the  lookout  for  opportunities  of  further  con- 
quest, sent  his  military  expeditions  toward  the  west 
and  soon  learned  of  a  great  ocean,  which  he  rightly 
judged  to  be  the  same  as  Balboa's  South  Sea.  The 
news  of  this  discovery  made  a  deep  impression  upon 
his  imagination.  Military  successes  had  already 
brought  him  riches  and  a  fame  which  reached  to  all 
countries  of  the  civilized  world.  But  Cortez  saw 
clearly  in  the  proximity  of  the  great  ocean  an  oppor- 
tunity both  to  secure  greater  wealth  and  a  more  endur- 
ing renown.  By  exploring  the  Pacific  he  expected  to 
find  many  islands  abounding  in  gold  and  other  riches. 
He  hoped  also  to  reach  the  Moluccas,  and  above  all,  he 
was  anxious  to  find  the  strait  so  ardently  desired  by  the 
king  of  Spain. 

Establishing  a  naval  station  on  the  west  coast  of 
Mexico,  Cortez  soon  began  sending  expeditions  toward 
the  north.  Some  of  his  ships  were  lost,  and  large  sums 
of  money  were  expended,  but  no  very  important  results 
were  obtained  until  1539.^ 

1  The  southern  end  of  the  California  peninsula  was  discovered 


Early  Explorers  of  the  Pacific  Coast  5 

Explorations  undertaken  by  Cortez.  In  that  year 
Cortez  sent  out  Ulloa  with  three  ships  to  trace  the 
Mexican  coast  northward.  One  of  the  three  vessels 
was  soon  lost,  but  with  the  other  two  the  mariner  held 
his  course  until  he  approached  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of 
California.  Tacking  about  he  now  passed  along  the 
shore  of  the  peninsula  to  the  cape  which  forms  its 
southern  extremity,  which  he  rounded  and  sailed  along 
the  outer  coast  as  far  as  Cedros  Island,  in  latitude  28°. 
From  this  expedition  Ulloa  and  his  flagship  never  re- 
turned, although  the  surviving  vessel  reached  Mexico 
in  the  following  year.  Cortez  returned  to  Spain  in 
1540,  and  died  there  seven  years  later. 

Alargon's  voyage.  The  romantic  story  of  Coro- 
nado,  familiar  to  all  readers  of  American  history,  con- 
nects in  an  interesting  manner  with  the  exploration 
of  the  Pacific.  At  the  time  of  Coronado's  expedition, 
1540,  Mendoza,  a  rival  of  Cortez,  was  viceroy  of 
Mexico.  In  order  to  increase  the  chance  of  Coronado's 
success  Mendoza  sent  a  fleet  under  Alargon  to  support 
the  land  expedition.  Alargon  reached  the  head  of  the 
Gulf  as  Ulloa  had  done  before  him,  and,  leaving  his 
ships  at  the  entrance  of  Colorado  River,  ascended  the 
stream  in  small  boats  as  far  as  its  junction  with  the 
Gila.  This  proved  that  the  land  stretching  toward  the 
southwest  was  a  peninsula,  and  not  an  island.  The 
name  California,  now  known  to  have  been  derived  from 
a  Sixteenth  Century  Spanish  novel,  was  first  applied  to 

in  1534.    It  was  supposed  to  be  an  island.    The  attempt  to  plant  a 
colony  there  failed. 


'6  A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

the  country  about  this  time.  In  its  original  use  it  sig- 
nified a  fabulous  island,  situated  "  not  far  from  the  ter- 
restrial paradise,"  and  inhabited  by  a  gigantic  race  of 
women. 

Voyage  of  Cabrillo  and  Ferelo.  In  1542  Men- 
doza  sent  out  Cabrillo  and  Ferelo  to  explore  the  coast 
northward  along  the  peninsula.  The  result  of  Ca- 
brillo's  voyage  was  the  discovery  of  the  excellent  har- 
bour which  he  named  San  Miguel  but  which  was  later 
called  San  Diego,  and  the  partial  exploration  of  the 
California  coast  line  above  San  Diego  possibly  to  the 
fort3''-second  parallel.  An  outline  map  of  the  west 
coast  of  America  from  Panama  to  Oregon  will  thus 
summarize  fairly  the  Spanish  explorations  during  the 
thirty  years  following  Balboa's  discovery  of  the  Pacific. 

Drake's  voyage.  The  story  of  Sir  Francis  Drake's 
incursion  into  the  Pacific,  his  capture  of  Spanish 
treasure  ships,  his  landing  in  California  and  subse- 
quent circumnavigation  of  the  globe  is  full  of  dramatic 
interest.  But,  despite  oft  repeated  claims  that  he  made 
new  discoveries  to  the  northward  of  42°,  there  is  no 
convincing  evidence  to  prove  that  he  did  so.  It  is  not 
probable  that  he  saw  any  part  of  the  Oregon  coast, 
although  he  may  have  sailed  the  high  sea  as  far  to  the 
north  as  the  forty-third  parallel. 

Its  influence  upon  Spain.  Nevertheless,  by  show- 
ing them  how  insecure  were  their  western  coasts  and 
how  unprotected  their  rich  trade  between  the  Philip- 
pine Islands  and  Mexico  Drake's  voyage  incited  the 
Spaniards   to   undertake   explorations    having   a    de- 


Early  Explorers  of  the  Pacific  Coast         7 

fensive  object.  The  plan  was  to  explore  minutely  the 
coast  of  Upper  California,  and  establish  forts  at  two 
good  harbours  which  were  to  be  refitting  stations  for 
the  ships  from  Manila  when  they  arrived  after  the 
terrible  buffetings  of  the  long  voyage  across  the 
Pacific.  Sebastian  Vizcaino  made  the  necessary  ex- 
plorations in  1C02-3,  mapping  carefully  the  California 
harbours  of  Monterey  and  San  Diego. 

Vizcaino's  voyages.  The  activity  of  Vizcaino, 
which  was  not  followed  up  by  the  fortification  of  the 
California  harbours,  as  he  advised,  marks  the  end  of 
Spanish  exploring  activity  on  the  coast  for  more  than  a 
century  and  a  half.  The  Manila  ships,  as  the  vessels 
trading  to  the  Philippines  were  called,  were  almost 
the  only  Spanish  craft  to  approach  the  coast  of  Upper 
California  during  that  long  interval,  while  the  tribes 
and  peoples  seen  by  Cabrillo,  Drake  and  Vizcaino  re- 
mained during  the  same  period  in  their  earlier  condi- 
tion of  unrelieved  barbarism. 

Decline  of  Spain.  Spain,  meantime,  entered  upon 
that  remarkable  era  of  relative  decline,  beginning  with 
the  destruction  of  her  Great  Armada  in  1588,  which 
gave  opportunity  to  England,  France,  and  Holland  to 
participate  in  the  colonization  of  America  as  competi-* 
tors  of  Spain.  England,  on  account  of  her  naval  de- 
velopment, was  enabled  to  outstrip  all  of  her  rivals 
and  finally,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  French  war  in 
1763,  to  gain  the  whole  eastern  half  of  North  America, 
all  of  which  had  once  been  claimed  by  Spain  under  the 
name  of  Florida. 


8  A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Anson's  voyage.  These  changes  seriously  affected 
the  position  of  Spain  on  the  west  side  of  the  continent. 
Indeed,  her  power  there  had  already  been  challenged, 
for  in  1 740-44  Commodore  George  Anson  was  sent  by 
the  British  Admiralty  to  attack  Spain  in  the  Pacific, 
especially  along  the  coasts  of  South  America  and  in 
the  Philippines.  Through  great  misfortunes  at  sea, 
the  program  of  offensive  warfare  could  be  carried  out 
only  partially.  Yet,  Anson  stormed  Payta,  a  town 
on  the  Peruvian  coast,  and  captured  it;  he  cruised  off 
the  Mexican  coast  in  search  of  the  Manila  galleon, 
which  went  into  hiding  and  escaped  him.  He  after- 
ward captured  one  of  the  galleons  in  the  Philippines, 
taking  a  prize  valued  at  $1,500,000.  The  voyage  was 
completed  by  sailing  to  China  and  around  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  to  England.  It  was  believed  that  had  the 
squadron  rounded  Cape  Horn  at  the  proper  season, 
thus  avoiding  undue  losses,  it  could  easily  have  cap- 
tured Baldivia  in  Chili,  terrified  that  kingdom  and 
"  awed  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  Spanish  Empire 
in  America."  * 

Arthur  Dobbs  prophesies  British  expansion  in  the 
Pacific.  About  the  time  of  Anson's  return  from  the 
Pacific,  Mr.  Arthur  Dobbs,  a  public  spirited  English 
gentleman,  issued  a  book  ^  in  which  he  pointed  to  the 
Pacific  as  the  most  promising  field  of  British  explor- 

1  Richard  Walter — "Anson's  Voyage,"  p.  280. 

2  On  Hudson's  Bay,  London,  1744.  See  summary  in  the  author's 
Acquisition  of  Oregon,  pt.  I  —  Discovery  &  Exploration.  Bulle- 
tin University  of  Oregon.    N.  S.  Vol.  VI,  No.  3,  December,  1908. 


Early  Explorers  of  the  Pacific  Coast  9 

ing  and  exploiting  effort  for  many  years  to  come. 
Great  Britain,  he  argued,  should  take  away  the  mo- 
nopoly of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  ^  because  that 
company  had  refused  to  carry  out  its  charter  agree- 
ment to  search  for  a  northwest  passage  into  the  Pacific. 
The  government  should  seek  that  passage,  and  having 
found  it  should  establish  naval  stations  in  the  North 
Pacific,  say  near  California,  and  in  the  South  Pacific, 
say  at  the  Isle  of  Easter.  From  these  stations  as  cen- 
tres, explorations  should  be  made  throughout  the  great 
ocean,  north  and  south.  He  believed  there  were  thou- 
sands of  islands,  perhaps  continents,  still  to  be  found 
there  and  these  were  doubtless  peopled  with  tribes 
waiting  to  be  supplied  with  British  goods. 

The  Northwest  Passage.  Under  Dobbs's  stimu- 
lation a  good  deal  was  done,  within  the  next  few  years, 
to  find  the  Northwest  passage,  but  without  success. 
However,  the  government  began  at  the  close  of  the 
French  war  (1764)  to  send  exploring  expeditions  into 
the  Pacific  and  in  the  ten  years  following  many  new 
islands  were  brought  to  light  by  a  succession  of  navi- 
gators —  Byron,  Wallis,  Carteret,  and  especially  Cook, 
the  greatest  discoverer  of  all, 

Bering's  Russian  Exploration.  These  notable  ac- 
tivities of  the  British  were  matched  by  similar  activi- 
ties of  the  Russians.  In  1728  Vitus  Bering,  a  Dane 
who  set  out  some  years  before  in  the  service  of  Peter 
the  Great,  sailed  north  from  Kamchatka  and  settled 

^The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  received  its  charter  from  King 
Charles  II  in  1669. 


lO         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

the  age  old  question  as  to  whether  Asia  and  North 
America  were  joined  together  in  the  north.  In  1741 
Bering  and  Tchirikoff  discovered  Alaska  and  a  num- 
ber of  the  islands  of  Bering  Sea.  Thereafter  the 
Russians  began  the  trade  in  furs  which  soon  carried 
them  from  Kamchatka  to  the  Alaska  coast  and  thence 
southward  toward  California  and  Mexico. 

It  was  these  two  movements  of  the  British  and  Rus- 
sians, which  roused  the  Spaniards  of  Mexico  to  under- 
take new  schemes  of  conquest,  settlement,  and  ex- 
ploration for  the  sake  of  safeguarding  their  posses- 
sions if  possible  against  the  fate  which  had  befallen 
Florida. 

Spaniards  forced  to  become  expansionists  and  ex- 
plorers. Their  plan  was,  first:  to  plant  colonies  and 
build  forts  at  San  Diego  and  Monterey  harbours,  as 
Vizcaino  had  recommended  in  1603.  Second,  the  en- 
tire region  of  Upper  California  was  to  be  brought 
under  Spanish  rule.  Third,  they  were  to  undertake 
explorations  by  sea,  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Russian  set- 
tlements in  order  to  fix  the  Spanish  claim  more  firmly 
upon  the  northwest  coast  of  America.  In  connection 
with  the  plan  of  conquest  it  was  decided  to  establish  a 
number  of  missions,  similar  to  those  already  existing 
in  the  Peninsula,  for  the  purpose  of  Christianizing  the 
Indians.  Father  Junipero  Serra,  a  devout  Franciscan 
friar,  was  in  charge  of  the  missionary  branch  of  the 
movement. 

California  missions  planted.  The  first  of  the 
series  of  missions  was  founded  by  Father  Serra  at  San 


Early  Explorers  of  the  Pacific  Coast        il 

Diego  July  i6,  1769,  and  a  fort  or  presidio  was  built 
near  it.  Thus  the  process  of  the  missionary  and  mili- 
tary occupation  was  begun.  Monterey  was  occupied 
the  next  year  and  that  place  became  the  capital  of 
Upper  California.  Other  missions  and  presidios  were 
founded  from  time  to  time. 

Explorations  of  Perez,  1774.  The  first  exploring 
ship,  the  Santiago,  sailed  from  Monterey  under  Juan 
Perez  June  11,  1774.  Perez  had  instructions  to  sail 
to  the  sixtieth  parallel  before  making  his  landfall.  But 
running  short  of  water,  he  put  about  to  the  east  on 
July  15th  and  on  the  20th  reached  the  coast  near  the 
present  southern  limits  of  Alaska.  He  named  the 
place  Santa  Margarita.  Perez  now  decided  to  aban- 
don the  attempt  to  reach  a  higher  latitude,  and  turned 
to  explore  the  land  southward  to  California.  Drop- 
ping down  some  six  degrees,  he  ran  into  a  "  C  "  shaped 
harbour  which  he  named  San  Lorenzo,  a  roadstead 
which  later  became  famous  under  the  name  of  Nootka 
Sound.  Many  points  on  the  Oregon  and  California 
coasts  were  seen  by  Perez  on  his  voyage  southward, 
which  terminated  at  Monterey  August  27. 

Heceta's  discovery.  Perez  had  made  a  general  ex- 
ploration of  the  entire  northwest  coast  from  the  parallel 
of  42°  to  54°  40',  but  he  had  failed  to  reach  the  region 
visited  by  the  Russians.  In  the  following  year  a  new 
expedition  was  fitted  out  under  the  command  of  Cap- 
tain Bruno  Heceta.  Heceta  had  instructions  requir- 
ing him  to  reach  latitude  65°.  At  a  point  near  Fuca's 
Strait,  the  present  Point  Grenville,  he  landed  and  per- 


12         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

formed  the  ceremony  of  taking  possession.  Soon 
afterward  Heceta  decided  to  turn  back,  but  one  of  his 
two  ships,  the  Sonera,  under  the  command  of  Bodega 
e  Cuadra,  held  her  course  northward  until  she  attained 
the  latitude  58°.  Cuadra  landed  at  a  point  on  the 
Alaska  coast  opposite  Mt.  Edgecumbe,  which  he  named 
San  Jacinto,  and  there  performed  the  ceremony  of 
taking  possession. 

On  his  southern  voyage  Heceta  saw  the  bay  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia,  but  while  recognizing  the 
signs  of  a  great  river,  he  failed  to  enter  it. 

Origin  of  Cook's  third  voyage.  We  have  now 
reached  an  important  turning  point  in  the  history  of 
the  Northwest  Coast.  The  British,  through  the  earlier 
explorations  already  mentioned,  had  developed  an  ex- 
traordinary interest  in  the  Pacific.  Cook  had  explored 
Australia  and  New  Zealand,  great  land  masses  occupied 
by  numerous  aboriginal  tribes;  numerous  smaller  is- 
lands had  been  found  especially  in  the  South  Pacific, 
so  the  dream  of  Arthur  Dobbs  was  beginning  to  take 
on  some  of  the  features  of  reality. 

Great  Britain  had  not  found  a  northern  passage 
into  the  Pacific.  But  it  was  now  known,  since  Samuel 
Hearne's  journey  to  the  mouth  of  Coppermine  River  in 
1 769- 1 772,  that  there  was  open  sea  far  above  the 
latitude  of  Hudson's  Strait  and  far  to  the  northwest 
of  Hudson's  Bay.  The  suggestion  was  that  by  sail- 
ing much  farther  north  than  formerly  a  channel  might 
be  found.  And  since  Bering's  Strait  probably  con- 
nected the  Pacific  with  the  northern  sea  in  the  west, 


Early  Explorers  of  the  Pacific  Coast        13 

the  chance  of  finding  the  passage  would  be  doubled  by 
searching  from  both  oceans  simultaneously. 

Captain  Cook  was  commissioned  to  make  the  attempt 
from  the  west.  His  instructions  were  issued  July  6 
and  he  sailed  on  July  12,  1776. 

Cook's  instructions.  After  making  certain  re- 
searches in  the  South  Pacific,  his  orders  were  to  run  to 
the  coast  of  "New  Albion  "  ^  in  about  latitude  45°, 
thence  to  proceed  northward  to  65°,  and  endeavour  to 
find  a  way  from  Bering's  Strait  into  the  Atlantic. 

Cook  discovers  the  Sandwich  Islands.  After 
spending  eighteen  months  in  southern  waters,  Cook 
sailed  northward  and  in  January,  1778,  discovered  a 
group  of  islands  on  which  he  bestowed  the  name  of  his 
patron,  the  Earl  of  Sandwich. 

Two  months  later  he  came  in  sight  of  the  Oregon 
coast  in  about  latitude  44°.  He  first  ran  a  couple  of 
degrees  southward  and  then  up  the  coast  to  about  47° 
where  he  began  a  careful  search  for  a  strait  which 
maritime  tradition  declared  had  once  been  found  in 
that  latitude  by  a  Greek  pilot  named  Juan  de  Fuca. 
Cook  convinced  himself  that  the  story  of  Juan  de 
Fuca's  voyage  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Atlantic  was  a 
myth,  like  so  many  other  sailors'  tales. 

Limits  of  Cook's  discoveries.  About  latitude  49° 
Cook  entered  the  harbour  named  San  Lorenzo  by  Perez 
—  Nootka  Sound.     There  the  Indians  crowded  about 

1  A  part  of  the  coast  of  California  was  named  New  Albion  by 
Drake.  But  it  was  erroneously  held  in  England  that  he  had  ex- 
plored under  that  designation  a  long  stretch  of  coast  line. 


14         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

the  vessel,  bringing  furs  to  barter  with  the  sailors. 
Steering  northwest,  Cook  saw  San  Jacinto  Mountain, 
so  named  by  Cuadra,  which  he  rechristened  Mt.  Edge- 
cumbe.  In  latitude  60°  he  saw  a  lofty  peak  which  he 
named  Mt.  St.  Elias.  Cook  held  his  course  westward 
and  northward,  exploring  the  Alaska  coast  and  inlets. 
Finally,  sailing  through  Bering's  Strait,  on  the  9th 
day  of  August,  1 778,  he  reached  the  "  western  ex- 
tremity of  all  America  "  in  latitude  65°  46^  Directly 
opposite  he  found  the  easternmost  point  of  Asia.  The 
first  he  named  Cape  Prince  of  Wales,  the  second  East 
Cape. 

Finding  the  season  too  far  advanced  for  the  pro- 
jected search  for  a  passage  to  the  Atlantic,  Cook  turned 
back  to  winter  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  where  he  lost 
his  life  in  February,  1779. 

Their  historical  significance.  Cook  was  not  the 
discoverer  of  the  Northwest  coast.  But,  while  he 
came  after  the  Spanish  navigators  in  time  and  while 
he  left  much  for  others  to  do,  he  yet  made  the  first 
extended  scientific  surveys  in  that  region  and  in  effect 
gave  to  the  world  its  first  definite  information  concern- 
ing the  contour  of  western  North  America  from  the 
latitude  of  California  to  Cape  Prince  of  Wales. 


CHAPTER  II 

DISCOVERY    OF    PUGET    SOUND    AND    COLUMBIA    RIVER 

Cook's  men  discover  the  world's  best  fur  market. 

The  voyage  of  Captain  Cook  had  one  resuh  which 
neither  he  nor  his  government  had  foreseen.  At 
several  points  along  the  northwest  coast  and  the  Alaska 
coast,  particularly  at  Nootka  Sound  and  at  Cook's 
Inlet,  the  natives  crowded  around  the  ships  to  exchange 
sea-otter  skins  and  other  furs  for  such  baubles  as  the 
sailors  cared  to  part  with.  The  white  men  wanted  the 
skins  for  clothing  and  bedding,  to  make  their  voyage 
more  comfortable,  no  one  suspecting  that  their  value 
was  more  than  nominal.  But  when  the  exploring 
squadron  touched  at  Canton,  on  the  south  coast  of 
China,  merchants  came  on  board  to  bargain  for  these 
furs.  The  prices  offered  went  up  day  by  day  until  at 
last  the  men  were  selling  the  remains  of  their  otter-skin 
garments  and  a  few  unused  furs  for  sums  that  seemed 
ahnost  fabulous.  "  Skins  which  did  not  cost  the  pur- 
chaser sixpence  sterling,"  writes  one  of  the  men,  "  sold 
for  one  hundred  dollars."  The  excitement  on  ship- 
board was  intense.  The  crew  wished  to  return  at  once, 
secure  a  cargo  of  furs  on  the  northwest  coast,  and  make 
their    fortunes.     When    the    officers    refused,    they 


1 6         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

begged,  blustered,  and  even  threatened  mutiny,  but  of 
course  in  vain. 

Beginnings  of  the  Northwest  Coast  fur  trade. 
The  discovery  of  the  value  of  otter  skins  in  the  Canton 
market  instantly  changed  the  thought  of  the  world  with 
respect  to  the  northwest  coast.  The  region  abounded 
in  furs,  but  thus  far  it  had  not  been  visited  for  com- 
mercial purposes.  Spain  had  sent  her  navigators  along 
those  coasts  to  confirm  her  ancient  claim  of  sovereignty 
over  them.  Great  Britain  because  she  hoped  to  find, 
half  hidden  behind  some  jagged  cape,  the  long  sought 
passage  to  the  eastern  sea.  A  powerful  new  motive 
now  became  operative.  In  a  few  years  ships  flying 
the  colours  of  England,  of  France,  of  Portugal  and  of 
the  new  Republic  of  the  United  States  began  regularly 
to  visit  those  waters,  their  crews  prospecting  madly 
among  the  coves  and  inlets  wherever  the  presence  of 
Indian  tribes  gave  promise  of  a  profitable  trade. 

So  far  as  is  now  known,  the  first  definite  plan  for 
carrying  on  this  northwest  fur  trade  was  projected  by 
Captain  King  who,  in  the  published  report  of  Cook's 
voyage,  recommended  that  the  East  India  Company 
should  begin  the  trade,  combining  exploration  with  it.^ 
While  this  plan  was  not  carried  out,  a  private  company 
under  Richard  Cadman  Etches  prepared  in  1785  to 
undertake  "  a  regular  and  reciprocal  system  of  com- 
merce between  Great  Britain,  the  Northwest  Coast  of 
America,  the  Japanese,  Kureil,  and  Jesso  Islands,  and 
the  coasts  of  Asia,  Corea  and  China."     This  company, 

1  Cook's  Voyage,  II,  437-440. 


The  Sea  Otter 


Discovery  of  Puget  Sound  17 

which  seems  to  have  received  the  government's  bless- 
ing, with  no  financial  help,  sent  forward  the  same  year 
two  well  equipped  vessels,  named  the  King  George  and 
the  Queen  Charlotte,  under  command  respectively  of 
Nathaniel  Portlock  and  George  Dixon,  both  of  whom 
were  naval  officers  on  leave. ^ 

Discoveries  of  Dixon,  Barclay,  Meares,  Dufifin. 
The  King  George  and  Queen  Charlotte  were  not  the 
first  vessels  to  sail  for  the  northwest  coast  in  response 
to  the  new  commercial  stimulus.^  But  we  are  inter- 
ested in  the  way  the  fur  trade  influenced  exploration 
and  we  know  from  the  journal  of  Captain  Dixon  that 
important  results  aside  from  commercial  gains  flowed 
from  the  voyage  of  the  Queen  Charlotte  in  the  years 
1786  to  1787.  Dixon,  in  sailing  south  from  Alaska, 
discovered  that  the  land  lying  just  below  fifty-four 
degrees  was  an  island  and  he  named  it  Queen  Char- 
lotte's Island.  He  explored  nearly  its  entire  circuit 
and  named  several  points  on  what  he  supposed  was  the 
mainland  to  the  east,  among  them  Cape  Pitt,  Cape 
Chatham,  and  Cape  Dalrymple  which  outlined  Dixon's 
Strait. 

Other  traders  from  Macao  in  China  and  from  Ostend 
were  on  the  coast  during  the  years  1786  to  1788  and 
their  commanders,  Captain  John  Meares  and  Captain 

1  An  Authentic  Statement,  etc.,  of  facts  relating  to  Nootka 
Sound.     By  Argonaut   (Richard  Cadman  Etches)    London,  i/go. 

2  James  Hanna,  an  Englishman  from  the  coast  of  China  is  sup- 
posed to  have  reached  the  northwest  coast  in  1785.  He  had  a 
small  vessel  and  flew  the  Portuguese  flag,  doubtless  to  elude  the 
British  East  India  Co.     He  secured  a  profitable  cargo. 


1 8         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Barclay  especially,  while  on  profits  bent  as  their  main 
issue,  incidentally  made  discoveries  of  considerable 
value.  Barclay,  sailing  from  Nootka  in  July,  1787, 
discovered  a  passage  between  Cape  Flattery  and  the 
land  he  had  just  left,  which  we  know  as  Vancouver 
Island  but  supposed  at  that  time  to  be  the  mainland. 
The  next  year  Aleares  ordered  his  lieutenant  Robert 
Duffin  to  explore  that  passage  which  now  was  traced 
for  the  distance  of  several  leagues.  The  passage  lay 
only  one  degree  north  of  the  fabled  strait  of  Juan  de 
Fuca  and  while,  unlike  that  creation  of  a  sailor's  fancy, 
it  did  not  in  fact  connect  the  two  great  oceans,  no  one 
knew  what  it  might  lead  into  and  its  discovery  revived 
the  most  active  geographical  speculation. 

Men  began  to  see  that  Cook's  voyage  after  all  left 
many  things  unsettled.  The  great  navigator  had 
located  Cape  Flattery  and  Nootka  Sound,  after  which 
he  had  sailed  to  the  Alaska  coast  without  so  much  as 
suspecting  that  he  had  been  running  past  a  succession 
of  great  islands  instead  of  along  the  continental  coast- 
line. That  fact  was  now  becoming  clear,  and  the  new 
found  strait  suggested  a  sea  of  indefinite  extent  in  that 
latitude,  eating  into  the  continent. 

The  Nootka  Sound  Controversy.  The  new  geo- 
graphical problems  raised  by  the  work  of  the  maritime 
fur  traders,  in  themselves  would  have  justified  a  new 
British  exploring  expedition  under  government  aus- 
pices. Another  circumstance  tending  to  the  same  re- 
sult was  the  now  celebrated  Nootka  Sound  Controversy 
of  1 789-1 790.     This  arose  over  the  attempt  of  Spain, 


Discovery  of  Puget  Sound  19 

in  1789,  to  fortify  Nootka  Sound  and  exclude  all 
foreigners  from  that  region,  of  which  as  we  saw  she 
claimed  the  exclusive  sovereignty.  Harsh  treatment 
of  British  traders  and  the  forcible  seizure  by  Don 
Martinez,  the  Spanish  commander,  of  several  British 
owned  vessels  at  Nootka  precipitated  the  quarrel  which 
at  one  time  seemed  to  foreshadow  war.  Finally,  the 
two  nations  reached  an  agreement  called  the  Nootka 
Convention  which  records  a  complete  triumph  for 
Britain.  In  it  Spain  conceded  the  right  of  British 
subjects  to  trade  and  make  settlements  upon  any  part 
of  the  coast  not  already  occupied.  In  other  words, 
Spain  gave  up  her  exclusive  claim  so  far  as  the  coast 
above  California  was  concerned.^ 

For  carrying  out  the  terms  of  the  Nootka  Conven- 
tion it  was  necessary  for  both  nations  to  send  navi- 
gators to  the  Northwest  Coast  and  Great  Britain  sent 
on  that  service  Captain  George  Vancouver,  who  was 
destined  to  become  pre-eminent  as  the  geographer  of 
the  Northwest  Coast. 

Vancouver's  Voyage.  Vancouver  spent  portions 
of  three  summers  in  those  waters  and  he  gave  to  the 
world  a  great  map  of  the  west  coast  of  North  America 
from  San  Diego  in  California  to  Cook's  River,  or 
Cook's  Inlet,  in  Alaska.  He  explored  the  inland  sea 
into  which  De  Fuca's  Strait  was  found  to  lead  and 
named  it  Puget's  Sound  for  his  friend  Lieutenant 
Puget;  he  circumnavigated  Vancouver  Island;  he  ex- 

1  See  Manning,  William  Ray.  The  Nootka  Sound  Controversy. 
Rept.  of  Am.  Hist.  Assn,  1904  p.  279-478. 


20         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

plored  the  numerous  inlets  which  penetrate  the  con- 
tinent between  Fuca's  Strait  and  Alaska.  While  a 
portion  of  the  work  in  Puget  Sound  waters  had  been 
done  before  Vancouver  arrived  by  the  Spanish  ex- 
plorers Quimper,  Eliza,  Galieno  and  Valdez,  and  while 
the  great  Spanish  explorer  Cuadra  was  so  closely  asso- 
ciated with  himself  that  he  called  the  island  north  of 
Fuca's  Strait  Vancouver  and  Cuadra's  Island,  yet  to 
Vancouver  is  due  the  credit  for  combining  into  one  sys- 
tem the  results  of  many  separate  explorations  and  for 
giving  the  world  an  intelligible  view  of  northwest  coast 
geography  as  a  whole. 

Vancouver  had  been  instructed  by  the  Admiralty  to 
secure  accurate  information  concerning  any  waterway 
that  might  help  to  connect  the  northwest  coast,  for  com- 
mercial purposes,  with  Canada,  and  the  admiralty  sug- 
gested to  him  that  such  a  waterway  might  perhaps  be 
found  by  entering  Fuca's  Strait  and  the  sea  into  which 
it  must  lead.  They  say:  "The  discovery  of  a  near 
communication  between  any  such  sea  or  strait,  and  any 
river  running  into  or  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods 
would  be  particularly  useful."  ^  This  supposed  river, 
flowing  into  the  western  sea  near  Nootka  Sound,  from 
the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  or  thereabouts,  was  an  idea 
which  the  government  had  derived  from  the  Montreal 
fur  traders  who  as  early  as  1784-5  were  anxious  to 
explore  to  the  Pacific  and  who  sent  in  memorials  forti- 
fied by  fanciful  maps  based  upon  their  own  conjectures 
or  upon  the  equally  indefinite  guesses  of  the  Indians, 

1  Instructions  in  Vancouver's  Voyage,  Ed.  of  1801,  1-40-41. 


Discovery   of  Puget  Sound  2i 

near  and  remote.^  Therefore,  in  a  sense,  Vancouver's 
instructions  represent  a  transition  from  the  earlier  idea 
of  finding  a  strait  through  which  ships  might  sail  from 
Pacific  to  Atlantic,  to  the  later  idea  of  finding  a  prac- 
ticable line  of  communication,  such  as  a  river  or  rivers, 
across  the  continent. 

The  Columbia  River.  On  Vancouver's  map  one 
such  possibility  is  indicated  in  the  delineation  of  a 
great  river  which  enters  the  Pacific  just  above  the  46th 
parallel  and  which  was  traced  for  the  distance  of  about 
one  hundred  miles  inland.  The  name  it  bears  is 
Columbia  River.  This  is  the  first  time  it  has  appeared 
on  a  map  of  the  coast.  It  was  not,  however,  a  dis- 
covery of  the  British  geographer,  but  of  a  plain  Yankee 
skipper  and  it  is  to  be  credited  to  the  maritime  fur 
trade  just  as  are  the  discoveries  of  Fuca's  Strait  and 
Queen  Charlotte's  Island. 

John  Ledyard.  The  American  interest  In  the 
Northwest  Coast  trade  possibly  sprang  also  from  the 
reports  of  Cook's  voyage.  John  Ledyard  of  Hartford, 
Connecticut,  was  a  corporal  on  Cook's  flagship.  In 
1783  Ledyard  returned  to  the  United  States  and 
promptly  published  a  small  volume  giving  an  account 
of  Cook's  voyage.  He  had  been  so  deeply  impressed 
with  the  chance  for  gain  in  a  fur  trade  between  the 
Northwest  Coast  and  Canton  that  he  laboured  inces- 

1  Such  a  map  was  executed  by  Peter  Pond,  agent  of  the  North- 
west Company,  or  as  it  then  was  the  Frobisher  Brothers  of  Mon- 
treal, and  sent  to  the  government  in  1785.  Brymner,  Canadian 
Archives,  Report  for  1890. 


22         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

santly  to  interest  Boston,  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
merchants  to  fit  out  a  ship,  of  which  Ledyard  was  to 
be  supercargo,  for  the  purpose  of  inaugurating  that 
trade.  He  failed,  and  went  to  France,  where  he  pur- 
sued the  same  idea,  again  without  success.^ 

A  Boston  company  organized  for  the  N.  W.  and 
China  trade.  Whether  the  tradition  of  Ledyard's 
appeal  w^as  bearing  fruit  among  the  merchants  of  Bos- 
ton, whether  they  became  interested  in  reports  of  Eng- 
lish ships  outfitting  for  the  Northwest  trade,  or  whether 
they  were  moved  by  the  reading  of  "  Cook's  Voyage," 
we  do  not  know.^  But  in  1787  a  company  headed  by 
Joseph  Barrell  was  formed  for  carrying  on  a  trade  to 
the  Northwest  Coast,  from  there  to  Canton  and  thence 
back  to  Boston.  The  ships  Columbia  and  Lady  Wash- 
ington, under  John  Kendrick  and  Robert  Gray  sailed 
from  Boston  harbour  October  i  of  that  year,  rounded 
Cape  Horn  and  appeared  the  next  autumn  on  the 
Northwest  Coast.  They  wintered  at  Nootka,  and  in 
1789,  having  completed  a  cargo,  Gray  in  the  Columbia 
sailed  for  China  and  on  the  9th  of  August,  1790,  ar- 
rived at  Boston  after  circumnavigating  the  globe. 

Captain  Gray  discovers  the  Columbia  River. 
The  successful  opening  of  the  trade  excited  great  in- 
terest in  the  New  England  capital.^     The  Columbia 

1  For  Ledyard's  relations  Jefiferson  at  Paris,  see  page  35  below. 

2  Bulfinch's  Oregon  &  El  Dorado,  published  in  1866,  in  which 
we  are  told  that  Cook's  voyage  was  "  the  topic  of  the  day "  in 
Boston  in  1787  cannot  be  accepted  as  proof  on  the  point. 

3  See  newspaper  notices  as  reprinted  in  the  author's  Acquisi- 
tion of  Oregon,  p.  21-22. 


Discovery  of  Puget  Sound  23 

was  sent  back  at  once  and  it  was  on  this  second  voy- 
age that  Captain  Gray  made  his  famous  discovery. 
He  had  wintered  on  the  coast  and  in  the  spring  was 
working  southward,  turning  his  prow  into  every  strange 
inlet  in  the  hope  of  finding  fresh  villages  of  natives  to 
exploit  for  furs.^  On  the  7th  of  May  he  ran  into  a 
harbour  in  latitude  46°  58'  which  he  called  Bulfinch 
Harbour  but  to  which  Vancouver  later  gave  the  more 
appropriate  name  of  Gray's  Harbour.  Four  days  later 
he  ran  in  between  the  breakers  into  what  at  first  he 
supposed  to  be  another  harbour.  He  says,  however, 
"  When  we  were  over  the  bar  we  found  this  to  be  a 
large  river  of  fresh  water,  up  which  we  steered." 
Gray  traded  with  the  Indians  along  the  lower  Colum- 
bia, and  before  leaving  the  river,  which  he  did  on  Alay 
20,  he  bestowed  upon  it  the  name  of  his  good  ship.^ 

Vancouver  explores  the  Columbia.  Vancouver 
learned  from  Gray  about  the  new  discovery,  and  in 
October  he  sent  Lieutenant  Broughton  into  the  river 
with  the  ship  Chatham.  Broughton  ascended  to  the 
first  rapids,  about  one  hundred  miles  from  the  bar, 
whereas  Gray  had  sailed  up  only  some  thirty  miles. 

iThe  traders  found  that  the  largest  profits  came  from  the 
trade  with  Indians  who  had  never  before  seen  white  men.  The 
Americans  in  one  case  secured  furs  vaUied  at  several  hundred 
dollars  for  an  old  chisel !  Hence  profitable  trade  was  depend- 
ent on  new  explorations. 

2  Gray  also  named  the  north  and  south  headlands  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  calling  the  first  Cape  Hancock,  the  second  Cape 
Adams.  Meares,  in  1788,  had  named  the  North  Cape  Disappoint- 
ment which  name  it  retains. 


24         -^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Vancouver's  map  represents  Bronghton's  survey  but  re- 
tains Gray's  name  for  the  river. 

Vancouver's  map  was  published  in  1798.  Three 
years  later  appeared  Mackenzie's  map  of  the  w^estern 
parts  of  North  America,  which  was  constructed  by 
combining  with  Vancouver's  map  certain  features 
which  Mackenzie  himself  had  discovered,  or  supposed 
he  had  discovered.  The  result,  so  far  as  the  Colum- 
bia is  concerned,  is  very  striking. 

Rivalry  of  the  Northwest  and  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
panies. Alexander  Mackenzie  was  a  partner  of  the 
Northwest  Company,  the  Montreal  concern  which  as 
early  as  1784-5  projected  an  exploring  expedition  hav- 
ing the  Pacific  Ocean  as  its  objective.  This  company 
was  a  bitter  rival  of  the  old  chartered  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  and  it  was  seeking  ways  of  hedging  that 
company  about.  Arthur  Dobbs,  in  1744,  complained 
of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company's  want  of  exploring  or 
even  trading  enterprise ;  that  they  merely  allowed  cer- 
tain tribes  of  the  natives  to  come  down  the  rivers  to 
their  forts  to  trade  but  did  not  deign  to  go  among  them 
or  send  agents  to  develop  commerce  with  tribes  not  yet 
reached.  Later,  however,  the  company  became  more 
active  and  the  great  journey  of  Samuel  Hearne  to 
Coppermine  River,  1769-72,  had  added  enormously  to 
their  trading  field  in  the  far  Northwest. 

Exploration  of  Mackenzie  River,  1789.  But  the 
Northwest  Company  had  an  establishment  called  Fort 
Chipewyan  on  Lake  Athabasca,  which  was  favourably 
located  with  reference  to  explorations  either  to  the 


Discovery   of  Puget  Sound  25 

north  or  to  the  west.  In  1789  Mackenzie  set  out  from 
Fort  Chipewyan  with  a  small  party  in  canoes  and, 
circling  Great  Slave  Lake,  discovered  a  river  flowing 
out  of  that  lake  toward  the  north.  He  descended  the 
river  to  the  Arctic  Ocean,  making  the  entire  journey 
in  forty  days.  Returning,  he  immediately  organized 
the  trade  along  the  line  thus  opened.  Since  he  had 
found  the  estuary  of  Mackenzie  River  choked  with  ice 
in  July,  and  since  he  observed  in  the  west  a  chain  of 
mountains  running  still  farther  north,  Mackenzie  be- 
came convinced  of  the  impracticability  of  a  northwest 
passage  around  the  continent.  He  therefore  came  to 
believe  in  the  extreme  desirability  of  finding  a  way 
through  or  across  the  continent  to  the  Pacific,  an  idea 
we  saw  the  British  admiralty  suggesting  in  its  instruc- 
tions to  Captain  Vancouver  about  the  same  time. 

Accordingly,  Mackenzie  proposed  to  reach  the  Pacific 
by  ascending  Peace  River  which  flows  into  Lake  Atha- 
basca from  the  west,  and  from  its  sources  to  cross  to 
some  west-flowing  stream.  Wintering  near  the  Rocky 
Mountains  on  Peace  River  in  1792-3,  he  resumed  his 
journey  May  9,  1793,  and  on  the  i8th  of  June  discov- 
ered a  river  having  a  westerly  course.  This  he  de- 
scended for  twenty-five  days  when  the  difficulties  of 
navigation  impelled  him  to  leave  the  river.  By  follow- 
ing an  old  trail  and  afterward  descending  another 
smaller  stream  with  a  more  direct  course,  he  and  his 
party  of  ten  intrepid  woodsmen  reached  the  Pacific  in 
latitude  52°  20'  at  a  place  which  had  been  recently  sur- 
veyed by  Vancouver  and  by  him  called  Cascade  Canal. 


26         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Here  on  the  smooth,  protected  surface  of  an  over- 
hanging cHfT,  the  trader-explorer  left  a  memorial  of 
his  achievement  in  the  legend :  "  Alexander  Mac- 
kenzie from  Canada  by  land,  the  twenty-second  of 
July,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety  three." 

The  river  down  which  Mackenzie  floated  so  many 
days  was  called  by  the  Indians  Tacoutchee  Tesse.  It 
must,  he  argued,  flow  into  the  Pacific,  and  since  it 
trended  strongly  southward  he  concluded  that  it  was 
identical  with  the  river  shown  on  Vancouver's  map 
under  the  name  Columbia.  This  identification  Mac- 
kenzie indicated  on  his  map  by  a  dotted  line  which  re- 
lates the  lower  Columbia  to  the  Tacoutchee  Tesse. 

In  fact,  Mackenzie  had  been  on  Fraser  River,  which 
flows  into  Puget  Sound,  and  not  on  the  upper  Colum- 
bia at  all.  But  his  mistake  gave  rise  to  most  interest- 
ing speculations  about  the  practicability  of  connecting 
the  fur  trade  of  the  Columbia  with  that  of  Canada  and 
Hudson  Bay.  Mackenzie's  "  Voyages,"  published  in 
1801,  presents  his  trading  plan  in  detail. 

Mackenzie's  plan  for  consolidating  the  British 
North  American  fur  trade.  Mackenzie  proposed  that 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company  and  Northwest  Company 
should  unite  in  a  single  organization  to  control  the  fur 
trade  of  North  America  from  the  parallel  of  45°  to 
the  pole.  The  line  of  communication  from  the  Rocky 
Mountains  by  way  of  Lake  Winnipeg  and  Nelson  River 
to  Hudson  Bay  was  so  much  shorter  than  the  line  which 
ran  to  Montreal  that  Hudson  Bay  at  the  mouth  of 
Nelson  River  should  be  regarded  as  the  proper  place 


Discovery   of  Puget  Sound  27 

for  the  trade  emporium  on  the  Atlantic  side.  "  But," 
says  Mackenzie,  "  whatever  course  may  be  taken  from 
the  xA.tlantic,  the  Columbia  is  the  line  of  communication 
from  the  Pacific  Ocean,  pointed  out  by  nature,  as  it  is 
the  only  navigable  river  in  the  whole  extent  of  Van- 
couver's minute  survey  of  that  coast;  its  banks  also 
form  the  first  level  country  in  all  the  southern  extent 
of  continental  coast  from  Cook's  entry  [Inlet]  and, 
consequently,  the  most  northern  situation  fit  for  colon- 
ization, and  suitable  for  the  residence  of  a  civilized 
people."  The  line  of  posts  would  begin  at  the  mouth 
of  Columbia  River,  and  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  it 
would  connect  with  the  head  of  Saskatchewan  River, 
which  it  would  follow  to  Lake  Winnipeg  and  Nelson 
River.  Related  to  this  continental  trade  would  be 
"  the  fishing  in  both  seas  and  the  markets  of  the  four 
quarters  of  the  globe."  ^ 

Mackenzie  appeared  to  anticipate  little  difficulty  in 
carrying  out  his  plan  of  using  the  Columbia,  assuming 
that  it  would  be  a  simple  matter  for  Great  Britain  to 
acquire  title  to  the  territory  through  which  it  llowed. 
He  remarked  that  the  boundary  between  British  and 
American  possessions  in  the  Northwest  must  be  recti- 
fied 2  by  drawing  a  line  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods 

1  Mackenzie's  Voyage,  p.  411.  It  should  be  pointed  out  that, 
although  Mackenzie  was  mistaken  in  supposing  he  had  been  on  the 
Columbia,  his  inferences  from  that  supposition  were  perfectly- 
sound,  for  it  was  the  Columbia,  not  the  Fraser,  which  interlocked 
with  the  Saskatchewan. 

2  The  boundary  line  described  in  the  treaty  of  17S3  was  an  im- 
possible line.     It  assumed  that  a  line  drawn  due  west  from  the 


28         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

to  some  point  on  the  Mississippi.  But  since,  under  the 
treaty  of  1783,  Great  Britain  had  a  right  to  navigate 
the  river,  that  Hne  must  come  down  to  a  point  where  it 
becomes  navigable.  And  wherever  that  might  be, 
probably  at  the  parallel  of  45°,  it  must  be  continued 
west,  till  it  terminates  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  to  the 
south  of  the  Columbia. 

northwestern  point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  would  strike 
the  ]\Hssissippi,  but  the  source  of  that  river  proved  to  be  too 
far  south. 


CHAPTER  Iir 

ORIGIN    OF    THE   LEWIS    AND    CLARK    EXPEDITION 

What  was  known  about  the  Northwest  Coast  in 
the  year  1801.  Mackenzie's  error  in  supposing  the 
Columbia  to  be  identical  with  the  river  he  descended, 
for  some  days,  in  1793  shows  how  tardily  correct  geo- 
graphical knowledge  concerning  the  Pacific  North- 
west was  being  accumulated.  The  coast  line,  indeed, 
had  now  been  pretty  accurately  ascertained.  The 
estuaries  of  the  rivers  were  laid  down  on  the  map  of 
Vancouver.  The  possibility  of  reaching  the  coast 
overland,  from  Fort  Chipewyan,  had  been  demon- 
strated by  Mackenzie,  who  also  hazarded  a  happy  guess 
as  to  the  relation  between  the  upper  Columbia  and  the 
river  systems  connecting  with  Hudson  Bay.  But  when 
Mackenzie  published  his  "Voyages,"  in  1801,  nothing 
definite  was  yet  known  about  the  relation  between  the 
Columbia,  flowing  into  the  Pacific  near  the  46th  par- 
allel, and  the  Missouri  or  other  rivers  rising  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  flowing  southward  toward  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  Traditions,  or  vague  surmises,  such 
as  Jonathan  Carver  published  in  1778,  about  a  "  River 
of  the  West,"  or  "  Oregon,"  whatever  their  source, 
cannot  be  taken  for  actual  geographical  knowledge. 

How    the    Columbia    might    be    traced;    David 

29 


30         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Thompson's  story  of  a  trip  to  the  Columbia  in  1801  ? 
There  were  two  lines  along  which  such  exact  informa- 
tion would  probably  be  sought.  The  Canadians,  fol- 
lowing Mackenzie's  suggestion,  might  work  their  way 
across  the  Rockies  from  the  head  waters  of  the  Sas- 
katchewan, in  which  case  they  would  reach  one  of  the 
great  branches  of  the  Columbia  and  readily  descend  it 
to  the  sea.  On  the  other  hand,  the  young  American 
nation,  prompted  by  its  interest  in  the  Mississippi  sys- 
tem, might  seek  the  Columbia  by  way  of  the  Missouri 
connection.  Both  lines  of  communication  were  bound 
to  be  utilized  in  time  and  circumstances  would  deter- 
mine which  should  have  the  precedence.  There  is 
some  reason  to  believe  that  an  attempt  was  made  by  the 
Northwest  Company  of  Canada  in  or  about  the  year 
1 80 1,  to  carry  out  Mackenzie's  plan  to  connect  the 
Canadian  trade  with  a  Columbia  River  trade.  David 
Thompson,  who  was  for  many  years  geographer  of  the 
company,  stated  in  1845  that  he  led  a  party  across  the 
Rockies  to  the  head  waters  of  McGillivray's  River,  a 
branch  of  the  Columbia,  but  was  driven  back  by  the 
Indians.  Thus  the  project,  if  it  was  really  undertaken, 
ended  in  failure.^ 

From  this  time  forward  the  major  interest  in  the 
overland   route  to  the  Pacific  shifts  to  the  United 

1  In  David  Thompson's  Memorial  to  the  British  Government. 
In  Pub.  Record  Office,  London.  F.  O.  America,  440.  Informa- 
tion has  reached  me  which  indicates  that  Thompson's  MS  journals 
fail  to  support  this  claim.  One  of  the  McGillivrays  in  1801  ap- 
proached the  divide  near  the  sources  of  the  Saskatchewan.  Let- 
ter of  T.  C.  Elliott,  dated  Jan.  7,  1916. 


Origin  of  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition      31 

States.  And  as  in  Canada  one  man,  Mackenzie,  had 
been  the  pivot  about  which  far  west  explorations 
turned,  so  in  this  country  the  central  influence  moulding 
policies  and  determining  results  was  likewise  a  unique 
individual,  Thomas  Jefferson. 

Sources  of  Jefferson's  interest  in  the  west.  Jef- 
ferson's interest  in  the  west  had  two  sources,  environ- 
ment and  philosophy.  We  know  that  his  Piedmont 
home  was  practically  at  the  frontier  of  Virginia  where 
his  father,  Peter  Jefferson,  established  himself  as  a 
pioneer  about  the  year  1737.  Probably  this  fact  helps 
to  explain  the  heartiness  of  Jefferson's  sympathy  with 
all  things  western.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  Jefferson 
was  perhaps  the  most  perfect  American  representative 
of  the  type  of  eighteenth  century  philosopher.  He 
was  passionately  fond  of  knowledge  and  he  had  a 
strong  bent  for  investigation.  This  caused  him  to  look 
into  questions  of  every  sort,  and  problems  in  geography 
or  in  natural  history  appealed  to  him  powerfully.  The 
fact  that  a  great  portion  of  the  American  continent 
was  as  yet  unexplored  insured  Jefferson's  special  inter- 
est in  that  region.  He  was  restlessly  anxious  to  learn 
all  those  facts  about  it  that  were  still  unknown.  But 
as  he  saw  "  the  works  of  nature  in  the  large,"  to  use 
his  own  phrase,  the  great  features  of  its  geography, 
like  its  mountains  and  water  courses,  were  to  him  of 
paramount  interest. 

The  Missouri  and  its  connections  as  Jefferson  saw 
them  in  178 1-2.  In  the  years  1781  and  1782  Jeffer- 
son wrote  a  greographical  and  political  work  entitled 


32         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

"  Notes  on  Virginia."  In  this  book  he  shows  con- 
siderable knowledge  of  those  portions  of  the  trans- 
Allegheny  region  which  had  been  previously  explored. 
He  discusses  the  plants  and  animals  native  to  those 
regions,  the  lead  and  coal  deposits,  and  calls  especial 
attention  to  certain  extraordinary  deposits  near  the 
Ohio  River  of  the  bones  of  huge,  extinct  animals.^ 
Our  chief  interest,  however,  is  to  learn  what  Jefferson 
at  that  time  knew  about  those  features  of  western  geog- 
raphy which  condition  the  discovery  of  an  overland 
route  to  the  Pacific,  especially  the  river  systems. 

Jefferson  justifies  a  special  treatment  of  far  western 
rivers,  although  they  are  not  within  the  boundaries  of 
Virginia,  on  the  ground  that  they  open  to  the  people  of 
Virginia  "  channels  of  extensive  communication  with 
the  Western  and  Northwestern  country."  .  .  .  His 
description  of  the  Missouri  is  most  interesting,  "  The 
Missouri  [he  says]  is  in  fact  the  principal  river,  con- 
tributing more  to  the  common  stream  than  does  the 
Mississippi,  even  after  its  junction  with  the  Illinois. 
It  is  remarkably  cold,  muddy,  and  rapid.  Its  over- 
flowings are  considerable.  They  happen  in  the  months 
of  June  and  July.  Their  commencement  being  so  much 
later  than  those  of  the  Mississippi,  would  induce  a  belief 
that  the  sources  of  the  Missouri  are  northward  of  those 
of  the  Mississippi,  unless  we  suppose  that  the  cold  in- 
creases again  with  the  ascent  of  the  land  from  the 
Mississippi  westwardly.     That  the  ascent  is  great,  is 

1  We  know  from  Jefferson's  letters  how  earnestly  he  tried  to 
procure  specimens  of  the  "  big  bones  "  found  near  the  Ohio. 


Origin  of  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition      33 

proved  by  the  rapidity  of  the  river.  Six  miles  above 
its  mouth  it  is  brought  within  a  compass  of  half  a 
mile's  width;  yet  the  Spanish  merchants  at  Pancore, 
or  St.  Louis,  say  they  go  two  thousand  miles  up  it. 
.  .  .  What  is  the  shortest  distance  between  the  naviga- 
ble waters  of  the  Missouri  and  those  of  the  North  River 
[Rio  del  Norte  or  Rio  Grande],  or  how  far  this  is 
navigable  above  Santa  Fe,  I  could  never  learn." 

At  another  place  in  the  book  Jefferson  records  the 
following  incident :  "  A  Mr.  Stanley,  taken  prisoner 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Tanissee,  relates  that,  after  being 
transferred  through  several  tribes,  from  one  to  another, 
he  was  at  length  carried  over  the  mountains  west  of 
the  Missouri  to  a  river  which  runs  westwardly."  ^ 

These  writings  show  that  Jefferson  knew  something 
about  the  northwestward  reach  of  the  Missouri  and 
that  he  had  a  vague  notion  about  a  connection  between 
that  river  and  the  south  flowing  Rio  Grande,  as  also 
between  the  Missouri  and  a  west  flowing  stream.  But 
the  "  river  which  runs  westwardly  "  had  for  him  as 
yet  neither  name,  character,  nor  exact  destination. 

His  letter  to  Steptoe.  His  manner  of  writing 
about  these  things,  however,  indicates  Jefferson's  eager- 
ness to  learn  all  that  could  be  learned  about  them,  and 
in  letters  written  near  the  same  time  we  have  proof 
that  his  mind  was  turning  to  methodical  exploration  as 
a  means  of  clearing  up  such  geographical  problems. 
On  the  26th  of  November,   1782,  he  wrote  to  James 

1  Quotations  from  Jefferson's  writings,  Ford's  Ed.,  as  reprinted 
in  the  author's  Acquisition  of  Oregon  Territory,  pp.  29-3a 


34        "^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Steptoe  to  thank  him  for  his  proposed  attempt  to  pro- 
cure for  Jefferson  some  of  the  "  Big  Bones  "  from  the 
Ohio.  In  this  letter  he  takes  occasion  to  suggest: 
"  Any  information  of  your  own  on  the  subject  of  the 
big  bones  or  their  history  or  on  anything  else  in  the 
western  country  will  come  acceptably  to  me.  .  .  . 
Descriptions  of  animals,  vegetables,  minerals,  or  other 
curious  things,  notes  on  the  Indians'  information  of 
the  country  between  the  Mississippi  and  waters  of  the 
South  Sea,  etc.,  etc.  will  strike  your  mind  as  worthy 
being  communicated."  ^ 

Letter  to  George  Rogers  Clark.  It  was  a  full 
year  later,  December  4,  1783,  that  Jefferson  wrote  the 
now  well  known  letter  to  George  Rogers  Clark  sug- 
gesting an  exploration  from  the  Mississippi  to  fore- 
stall a  prospective  British  exploration  to  California  and 
asking  the  resourceful  Kentucky  soldier  how  he  would 
like  to  lead  such  a  party. ^ 

1 1  follow  the  Congress  edition  in  the  above.  Ford  has  it,  III, 
p.  63 :  "  Notes  on  the  Indians,  information  of  the  country  between 
the  Mississippi  and  waters  of  the  South  Sea,"  making  a  comma 
out  of  an  apostrophe,  unless  the  Congress  edition  has  reversed 
that  process. 

2 "  I  find,"  he  says,  writing  from  Annapolis,  where  Congress 
was  then  sitting,  "  they  have  subscribed  a  very  large  sum  of 
money  in  England  for  exploring  the  country  from  the  Mississippi 
to  California;  they  pretend  it  is  only  to  promote  knowledge.  I 
am  afraid  they  have  thoughts  of  colonizing  in  that  quarter.  Some 
of  us  have  been  talking  here  in  a  feeble  way  of  making  the  at- 
tempt to  search  that  country.  But  I  doubt  if  we  have  enough  of 
that  kind  of  spirit  to  raise  the  money.  How  would  you  like  to 
lead  such  a  party,  though  I  am  afraid  the  prospect  is  not  worth 
asking  the  question."    Am.  Hist.  Rev.  Ill,  675. 


Origin   of  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition       35 

We  do  not  know  what  route  would  have  been  fol- 
lowed if  this  suggested  expedition  had  been  carried 
out.  But  since  Jefferson  in  his  "  Notes  "  shows  a 
very  clear  knowledge  of  the  route  to  Santa  Fe,  with  the 
distance  from  New  Orleans,  it  was  possibly  his  idea 
that  California  should  be  entered  from  the  south. 
Still,  we  are  free  to  assume  that  his  interest  in  the 
"  river  that  runs  westwardly  "  might  have  determined 
that  the  expedition  should  ascend  the  Missouri,  in  the 
hope  of  reaching  California  along  the  course  of  some 
unknown  River  of  the  West,  such  as  Carver  repre- 
sented as  entering  the  Pacific  below  the  forty-fifth 
parallel. 

Jefferson  and  Ledyard ;  their  plan  of  exploration 
failed.  However  that  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  there- 
after Jefferson  gave  his  attention  consistently  to  the 
problem  of  finding  a  connection  from  the  Missouri  to 
the  Pacific,  or  the  reverse.  In  1786  he  collaborated 
with  John  Ledyard,  who  had  been  a  corporal  on  Cook's 
flagship,  a  project  for  exploring  from  the  Pacific  east- 
ward to  the  Missouri  and  thence  to  the  United  States. 
Ledyard  was  then  in  Paris,  where  he  tried  unsuccess- 
fully to  secure  support  for  his  commercial  scheme 
which  included  a  fur  trade  on  the  Northwest  Coast, 
and  a  trade  in  Chinese  goods  at  Canton.  Jefferson  be- 
lieved him  well  qualified  for  exploring  ventures,  al- 
though recognizing  that  he  had  "  too  much  imagina- 
tion." He  requested  the  Russian  government  to  grant 
Ledyard  permission  to  cross  Siberia.  Ledyard  was  to 
go  to  Kamtschatka,  cross  from  there  in  some  Russian 


36         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

vessel  to  Nootka  Sound,  and  penetrate  eastward  to 
the  Missouri.^  Ledyard,  however,  got  no  farther  than 
Siberia,  when  he  was  turned  back  by  officials  of  the 
Russian  government.^ 

The  Michaux  project;  Jefferson's  instructions  to 
Michaux.  Jefferson's  paternal  relation  to  the  Ameri- 
can Philosophical  Society  afforded  an  opportunity,  in 
1793,  to  promote  another  attempt  to  discover  the  over- 
land route  to  the  Pacific.  Andre  ^Michaux,  a  famous 
French  botanist,  who  was  already  somewhat  familiar 
with  parts  of  western  America,  sought  the  encourage- 
ment of  that  society  and  was  offered  financial  aid  upon 
condition  that  he  "  explore  the  country  along  the 
Missouri,  and  thence  westwardly  to  the  Pacific  Ocean." 
In  his  instructions  to  Michaux  Jefferson  wrote.^  "  As 
a  channel  of  communication  between  these  states  and 
the  Pacific  Ocean  the  Missouri,  so  far  as  it  extends, 
presents  itself  under  circumstances  of  unquestioned 
preference.  It  has  therefore  been  declared  as  a  funda- 
mental object  of  the  subscription  (not  to  be  dispensed 
with)  that  this  river  shall  be  considered  and  explored 
as  a  part  of  the  communication  sought  for.  .  .  .  You 

1  This  plan  seems  impossible  except  on  the  theory  that  JetTer- 
son  and  Ledyard  believed  in  a  west  flowing  river  which  inter- 
locked with  the  Missouri,  as  did  Carver's  River  of  the  West,  or 
Oregon. 

2  Jefferson,  in  1821,  stated  that  the  Empress  of  Russia  refused 
permission  to  Ledyard,  deeming  the  plan  entirely  chimerical,  but 
that  he  undertook  to  cross  Siberia  without  official  sanction  and 
thus  subjected  himself  to  arrest  and  forcible  return. 

8  Writings,  Federal  Edition,  VII,  208-209. 


Origin  of  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition      37 

will  then  pursue  such  of  the  largest  streams  of  that 
river  as  shall  lead  by  the  shortest  way  and  the  lowest 
latitudes  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  ...  It  would  seem  by 
the  latest  maps  as  if  a  river  called  Oregon,  interlocked 
with  the  Missouri  for  a  considerable  distance,  and  en- 
tered the  Pacific  Ocean  not  far  southward  of  Nootka 
Sound.  But  the  society  are  aware  that  these  maps  are 
not  to  be  trusted  so  far  as  to  be  the  ground  of  positive 
instruction  to  you.  They  therefore  only  mention  the 
fact,  leaving  to  yourself  to  verify  it,  or  to  follow  such 
other  as  you  shall  find  to  be  the  real  truth." 

It  would  seem,  from  these  instructions,  as  if  Jeffer- 
son's knowledge  of  western  rivers,  relating  to  the 
Missouri  was  in  1793  no  more  complete,  or  very  little 
more  complete,  than  it  was  in  1781-2.^ 

Failure  again.  Michaux's  energies  were  dissipated 
in  political  activities,  directed  by  the  French  minister. 
Genet,  and  the  exploring  plan  failed  of  execution,  like 
that  of  Ledyard  six  years  earlier. 

When  Jefferson  returned  to  the  project,  ten  years 

^The  instructions  to  Michaux  were  written  in  January,  1793. 
Capt.  Robert  Gray,  who  discovered  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia 
River  in  May,  1792,  returned  to  Boston  in  July,  1793.  But  there 
is  no  evidence  that  Jefferson  learned  of  Gray's  discovery  other- 
wise than  through  Vancouver's  Voyage  published  in  1798. 
Thwaites's  statement,  Original  Journals  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  I 
XXI.  "  Jefferson  hoped  that  this  stream  [discovered  by  Gray] 
would  be  found  to  interlock  with  the  Missouri "  is  based  on  the 
supposition  that  Jefferson  possessed  in  1793  knowledge  which  he 
could  not  have  had  at  that  time.  Jefferson  knew  nothing  about 
the  Columbia,  and  the  "  Oregon  "  mentioned  by  him  probably  re- 
fers to  Carver. 


180.".84 


38         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

later,  conditions  were  much  more  favourable.  There 
was  now  available  a  fund  of  geographical  information 
which  did  not  exist  in  1793,  and  there  were  political 
incentives  to  exploration  which  reinforced  the  scientific 
motive.  And,  better  than  all,  Jefferson  as  President 
was  in  a  position  to  secure  the  practical  execution  of 
his  design. 

The  Vancouver  and  Mackenzie  maps.  The  most 
important  additions  to  the  geography  of  the  west  were 
those  contained  in  Vancouver's  map  (1798),  which 
laid  down  the  lower  Columbia,  and  in  Mackenzie's  map 
( 1 801 )  which  described  an  actual  northern  route  across 
the  continent,  although  erroneously  relating  Colum- 
bia river  to  that  route.  Mackenzie  also  made  more 
definite  many  things  pertaining  to  the  river  systems  east 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  north  of  the  forty-fifth 
parallel.  Also,  the  nature  of  the  mountain  barrier  be- 
tween the  eastflowing  and  the  westflowing  rivers  could 
be  measurably  realized  from  Mackenzie's  description 
of  the  pass  he  followed.^ 

The  political  incentives  which  contributed  to  induce 
Jefferson  to  promote  westward  exploration  in  1803-6 
might  almost  be  considered  sufficient  in  themselves  to 
bring  about  the  result. 

Napoleon  alarms  the  Americans.     When  Jefferson 

1  There  is  evidence  in  the  map  Lewis  executed  at  Fort  Mandan 
in  the  winter  of  1803-4  that  he  had  with  him  Mackenzie's  map. 
Both  Vancouver's  book  and  Mackenzie's  are  referred  to  by  Gal- 
latin in  his  correspondence  with  Jefferson  on  the  subject  of  the 
instructions  to  Lewis  in  1803.  Probably  the  explorers  carried 
copies  of  both. 


Origin  of  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition      39 

entered  upon  his  office  of  President,  i\larch  4,  1801, 
the  Mississippi  was  still  the  western  boundary  of  the 
United  States.  All  west  of  the  river  was  supposed  by 
Americans  to  belong  to  Spain,  which  had  been  in  pos- 
session at  New^  Orleans  since  1763.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  however,  Napoleon  had  recently  forced  Spain  to 
give  back  Louisiana  to  France,  but  without  publishing 
to  the  world  the  treaty  of  October,  1800,  by  which  this 
was  accomplished.  When  the  Americans  learned,  a  lit- 
tle later,  of  the  change  of  ownership  of  this  western 
territory,  and  the  prospect  that  France  would  succeed 
Spain  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  great  alarm  was 
felt  throughout  the  country.  "  Perhaps  nothing  since 
the  Revolutionary  War,"  wTote  Jefferson,  "  has  pro- 
duced more  uneasy  sensations  throughout  the  body  of 
the  nation." 

The  western  settlements.  A  glance  at  the  condi- 
tion of  the  West  of  that  time  will  explain  why  this  was 
so.  The  entire  region  beyond  the  Alleghenies  w^as  by 
nature  tributary  to  the  Mississippi.  It  was  a  fertile 
land,  containing  rich  valleys,  beautiful  plains,  and  far- 
stretching  forests  which  once  teemed  with  wild  game. 
Daniel  Boone  called  Kentucky  "  a  second  Paradise." 
He  and  other  pioneers  at  first  entered  the  region  as 
hunters.  Afterward  they  cut  a  road  through  the 
Shenandoah  Valley  and  Cumberland  Gap  ("the  Wil- 
derness Road"),  through  which  they  brought  their 
wagons,  families,  and  cattle,  to  make  new  homes  upon 
the  western  waters.  The  pioneers  of  Tennessee  ar- 
rived at  about  the  same  time,  just  before  the  Revolu- 


40         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

tionary  War,  and  occupied  the  high  valleys  along  the 
head  waters  of  Tennessee  River.  From  these  be- 
ginnings settlement  had  spread  rapidly  in  spite  of  In- 
dian wars  and  frontier  hardships,  until,  in  the  year 
1800,  Kentucky  had  a  white  population  of  180,000, 
and  Tennessee  92,000.  By  that  time  Ohio  had  also 
been  settled,  partly  by  Revolutionary  soldiers  from 
New  England,  and  already  counted  45,000  people.  A 
few  settlers  were  scattered  along  the  rivers  of  Alabama 
and  Mississippi,  and  still  others  lived  in  the  old  dilapi- 
dated French  villages  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  and  Michi- 
gan. We  will  not  be  far  wrong  in  placing  the  total 
white  population  on  Mississippi  waters  in  1800  at  325,- 
000. 

Conditions  of  life  in  the  West.  The  prosperity  of 
all  these  people  was  absolutely  in  the  hands  of  the  power 
that  controlled  the  Mississippi.  At  that  time  there 
were  no  canals  joining  the  eastern  and  western  streams ; 
railroads  had  never  been  heard  of ;  and  the  steamboat, 
afterward  such  a  wonderful  aid  in  transporting  goods 
and  passengers  up  the  rivers  of  the  West,  was  yet  to 
be  invented.  Manufactured  goods,  articles  of  little 
bulk  and  considerable  value,  were  carried  across  the 
mountains  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard  by  pack  train  or 
wagon,  to  supply  the  frugal  wants  of  the  frontier  set- 
tlers. Cattle  from  the  great  ranges  of  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee  were  driven  eastward  to  market;  but  all  the 
other  produce  of  farm,  mill,  and  factory,  the  surplus 
wheat,  corn,  pork,  flour,  and  lumber,  were  carried  to 
the  one  invariable  market  at  New  Orleans. 


Origin  of  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition      41 

Dependence  on  the  Mississippi.  So  long  as 
Americans  had  the  free  use  of  the  Mississippi,  all  was 
satisfactory.  In  theory  this  was  one  of  our  unques- 
tioned rights;  but  the  practical  fact  was  different,  for 
the  Spaniards  owned  the  land  on  both  banks  of  the 
river  at  its  mouth,  and  our  people  were  dependent  on 
them  for  a  place  to  deposit  the  produce  brought  down 
until  it  could  be  transferred  to  ocean  vessels.  If  they, 
or  the  French  who  were  about  to  step  into  their  places, 
should  refuse  to  continue  this  right  of  deposit,  or  should 
charge  a  heavy  toll  for  it,  they  could  sap  the  very  life- 
blood  of  the  American  communities  in  the  entire  trans- 
Allegheny  region. 

Spaniards  close  the  Mississippi.  The  Spaniards 
were  supposed  to  be  too  weak  to  attempt  this  with  any 
promise  of  success ;  but  France  had  become  the  dread  of 
Europe,  and  ranked  as  the  greatest  military  power  of 
the  world.  It  is  not  strange  that  Americans  should 
take  alarm  at  the  prospect  of  having  her  as  a  neighbour 
on  the  west,  especially  since  this  would  mean  French 
garrisons  planted  about  New  Orleans.  The  uneasi- 
ness of  which  Jefferson  wrote  was  caused  by  the  fear 
that  France,  when  once  in  possession,  might  undertake 
to  oppress  the  Americans  in  order  to  establish  her  in- 
fluence over  the  western  people.  Just  before  the  close 
of  the  year  1802  the  news  reached  Washington 
that  a  Spanish  official  at  New  Orleans  had  actually 
denied  to  Americans  the  right  of  deposit,  which  was 
guaranteed  by  treaty.  This  action  not  only  increased 
the  alarm  already  widely  felt,  but  aroused  the  West 


42         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

to  a  desire  for  war  in  which  many  eastern  people 
shared. 

Jefferson's  plan  to  buy  New  Orleans  and  West 
Florida.  Jefferson  was  by  nature  strongly  averse  to 
war,  and  would  sometimes  yield  a  great  deal  in  order 
to  preserve  peace.  In  this  case,  however,  his  mind 
seems  to  have  been  made  up.  We  must  go  to  war 
rather  than  permit  France  to  take  and  keep  possession 
of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  But  it  would  be  best, 
he  thought,  to  delay  the  armed  conflict  as  long  as  pos- 
sible, and  meantime  he  would  try  to  gain  the  control 
of  the  river  for  the  United  States  by  the  arts  of  diplo- 
macy, in  the  use  of  which  he  was  a  master  hand.  The 
plan  was  to  frighten  Napoleon  with  a  threat  that  the 
United  States  would  join  Great  Britain  in  a  war  against 
France,  and  thus  induce  him,  as  a  condition  of  peace, 
to  sell  us  the  island  and  city  of  New  Orleans,  together 
with  West  Florida.  This  would  give  the  United 
States  both  banks  of  the  Mississippi  at  its  mouth,  and 
insure  the  control  of  the  river.  Jefferson  had  already 
instructed  Robert  R.  Livingston,  our  minister  to 
France,  to  undertake  this  purchase  of  territory  from 
Napoleon ;  and  when  the  war  spirit  ran  high  in  Con- 
gress, during  the  winter  of  1802-1803,  he  sent  James 
Monroe  to  Paris  as  a  special  commissioner  to  assist 
in  carrying  out  this  plan.  At  the  same  time  Congress 
took  measures  to  place  the  country  in  as  good  condition 
as  possible  to  bear  the  shock  of  a  future  war. 

The  special  message  of  January  18,  1803.     It  was 
under  these  circumstances,  when  the  country  was  ex- 


Origin  of  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition      43 

cited  over  affairs  in  the  West,  and  fearful  of  a  collision 
with  the  overshadowing  power  of  France;  when  the 
fate  of  the  Mississippi  appeared  to  be  hanging  in  the 
balance,  and  might  turn  either  way;  that  President 
Jefferson  sent  to  Congress  the  now  famous  message  of 
January  i.S,  1803,  recommending  an  exploring  expedi- 
tion to  the  Pacific. 

Its  two  divisions.  The  first  part.  This  document 
contains  two  distinct  parts,  which  ought,  however,  to 
be  read  together.  The  first  part  deals  with  questions 
which  apparently  relate  wholly  to  Indian  affairs.  But 
the  reader  of  the  message  can  readily  see  that  the 
President's  chief  purpose  was  to  provide  additional 
protection  to  the  Alississippi  River.  He  felt  strongly 
that  our  interests  would  not  be  safe  till  the  United 
States  had  a  large  population  in  the  West,  and  espe- 
cially along  the  great  river  itself.  The  government 
must  encourage  the  westward  movement  in  every 
proper  way,  and  thus  "  plant  upon  the  Mississippi  itself 
the  means  of  its  own  safety."  But  especially  must  an 
effort  be  made  to  establish  American  settlements  on  the 
great  stretches  of  unoccupied  land  immediately  along 
the  east  bank.  Since  the  Indian  tribes  owned  most  of 
this  land,  something  must  be  done  to  induce  them  to 
part  with  it ;  and  Jefferson  believed  that  the  best  method 
was  to  continue  selling  them  goods,  including  ploughs 
and  other  implements  which  had  a  tendency  to  make 
of  the  Indians  as  agricultural  people.  With  the  ex- 
pansion of  their  corn  fields,  the  growth  of  their  herds 
and  flocks,  they  would  see  the  uselessness  of  retaining 


44         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

vast  stretches  of  forest  for  hunting  grounds,  and  would 
be  glad  to  sell  these  to  the  government  for  money  or 
needed  supplies.  That  is  why  Jefferson  dwells  at  such 
length  upon  the  importance  of  maintaining  government 
trading  houses,  where  they  already  existed  among  In- 
dian tribes,  and  urges  Congress  to  consider  carefully 
the  question  of  establishing  others.  The  Mississippi 
River,  and  the  question  of  how  to  defend  it,  lie  back  of 
this  entire  discussion. 

When  we  come  to  the  second  part  of  the  message 
other  questions  appear,  but  the  argument  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Mississippi  still  applies  if  instead  of  a 
French  danger  we  will  substitute  a  British  danger  as 
the  inciting  cause. 

Fear  of  British  designs  on  Upper  Mississippi. 
We  have  seen  how  Mackenzie  believed  that  the  bound- 
ary between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  in 
the  Northwest  would  be  completed  by  drawing  a  line 
to  a  navigable  point  on  the  Mississippi,  say  just  below 
St.  Anthony's  Falls  in  latitude  forty-five  degrees,  and 
that  he  insisted  also  on  drawing  a  line  from  that  point 
west  "  until  it  terminates  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  the 
south  of  the  Columbia." 

Since  the  northern  boundary  of  Louisiana,  which 
was  then  still  a  Spanish  territory,  had  never  been  defi- 
nitely ascertained,  it  might  not  have  proved  difficult  for 
Great  Britain  to  push  her  boundary  south  to  the  forty- 
fifth  parallel,  or  even  lower.  But  it  was  clearly  against 
the  interest  of  the  United  States  that  she  would  do  so, 
because  it  would  endanger  the  upper  Mississippi  even 


Origin  of  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition      45 

as  the  French  occupation  would  endanger  the  lower 
Mississippi. 

Alertness  of  the  American  government.  When, 
early  in  the  year  1803,  it  seemed  to  our  government  a 
wise  policy  to  seek  an  alliance  with  Great  Britain 
against  the  French,  in  case  Napoleon  should  refuse  to 
sell  New  Orleans  and  West  Florida,  Monroe  and  Liv- 
ingston were  authorized  to  pass  over  from  Paris  to 
London  for  that  purpose.  They  were  definitely  in- 
structed, however,  not  to  yield  to  Great  Britain  the 
privilege  of  gaining  for  herself  territory  west  of  the 
upper  Mississippi.  That  she  would  ask  that  privilege 
Secretary  of  State  Aladison  thought  likely,  for  three 
reasons :  her  desire  "  to  extend  her  domain  to  the 
Mississippi,  the  uncertain  extent  of  her  claims,  from 
north  to  south,  beyond  the  western  limits  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  attention  she  has  paid  to  the  Northwest 
Coast  of  America."  Gallatin,  at  about  the  same  time, 
thought  we  might  be  obliged  to  take  immediate  pos- 
session of  northern  Louisiana  "  to  prevent  G[reat] 
B[ritain]  from  doing  the  same."  Gallatin  considered 
that  "  the  future  destinies  of  the  Missouri  country  are 
of  vast  importance  to  the  United  States."  ^ 

The  political  advantage  of  controlling  the  Colum- 
bia. If  the  control  of  the  Mississippi,  down  to  latitude 
forty-five  degrees,  would  entitle  Great  Britain  to  sweep 
westward  along  that  parallel  to  the  Pacific,  as  Mac- 

^  He  suggested  that  Captain  Lewis,  on  his  expedition  to  the 
West,  should  be  instructed  to  examine  carefully  into  the  means 
by  which  a  British  attempt  on  the  Missouri  could  be  frustrated. 


46        A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

kenzie  suggested,  then  the  possession  of  the  mouth  of 
the  Columbia,  and  the  territory  south  on  the  Pacific  to 
the  same  parallel  would  justify  a  claim  of  territory 
eastward  to  the  Mississippi.  In  other  words,  the 
British  could  be  prevented  from  gaining  territory  west 
of  the  Mississippi  in  two  ways:  first,  by  making  our 
own  people  strong  on  the  Missouri ;  second,  by  gaining 
control  of  the  Columbia. 

An  Exploring  Expedition  justified  from  several 
points  of  view.  Now  an  expedition  which  would 
ascend  the  Missouri  to  the  source  of  one  of  its  principal 
branches,  find  a  connection  with  a  branch  of  the  Colum- 
bia, and  descend  that  river  to  the  sea  would  be  per- 
fectly adapted  to  secure  for  the  United  States  both  of 
these  advantages.  Jefferson  said  of  such  an  expedition : 
**  An  intelligent  officer,  with  ten  or  twelve  men  fit  for 
the  enterprise,  and  willing  to  undertake  it,  might  explore 
the  whole  line,  even  to  the  Western  Ocean,  have  con- 
ferences with  the  natives  on  the  subject  of  commercial 
intercourse,  get  admission  among  them  for  our  traders, 
as  others  are  admitted,  agree  on  a  convenient  deposit 
for  an  interchange  of  articles,  and  return  with  the 
information  acquired  in  the  course  of  two  summers." 
Here  the  President  speaks  only  of  commercial  and 
scientific  objects.  These  were  important.  But  the 
political  objects  were  possibly  not  less  important.  At 
all  events,  through  a  combination  of  favouring  circum- 
stances Jefferson  was  now  enabled  to  execute  a  long 
cherished  exploring  enterprise  destined  to  establish  an 
overland  route  to  the  Pacific. 


CHAPTER  IV 

OPENING   A    HIGHWAY   TO   THE   PACIFIC 

Plan  of  organization ;  Captain  Meriwether  Lewis. 

Jefferson's  plan  for  carrying  out  the  exploring  project 
was  to  appoint  an  army  officer  as  leader,  and  let  him 
select  a  few  men  from  the  military  posts,  wherever 
they  could  best  be  spared.  In  this  way  he  would  not 
only  secure  men  trained  to  obey  a  commander,  which 
was  an  important  point,  but  would  be  enabled  to  fit  out 
the  expedition  at  slight  expense;  for  the  soldiers  and 
officers  would  continue  to  draw  their  regular  pay  from 
the  military  department.  His  choice  for  leadership 
fell  upon  Meriwether  Lewis,  a  young  Virginian, 
brought  up  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Monticello,  who 
had  long  been  a  favourite  of  Jefferson.  He  was  of 
good  family,  was  fairly  well  educated,  and  had  many 
gifts  both  of  mind  and  person.  From  boyhood  Lewis 
had  been  fond  of  hunting,  and  had  made  himself  an 
excellent  woodsman.  He  was  also  an  enthusiastic  stu- 
dent of  plants  and  animals,  was  inured  to  the  hard- 
ships and  discipline  of  camp  life,  and  understood  the 
character  and  customs  of  the  American  Indians.  For 
a  number  of  years  he  had  been  in  the  regular  army, 
but  at  this  time  held  the  office  of  private  secretary  to 

47 


48         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

the  President.  His  qualifications  were  admirable  in 
so  many  respects,  that  in  spite  of  some  lack  of  scien- 
tific training,  Jefferson  "could  have  no  hesitation  in 
confiding  the  enterprise  to  him."  He  knew  Lewis  to 
be  "  honest,  disinterested,  of  sound  understanding,  and 
a  fidelity  to  truth  so  scrupulous  that  whatever  he  should 
report  would  be  as  certain  as  if  seen  by  ourselves." 
Besides,  he  was  "  steady  in  the  maintenance  of  dis- 
cipline," and  would  be  "  careful  as  a  father  of  those 
committed  to  his  charge." 

William  Clark.  It  was  at  Lewis's  suggestion  that 
the  President  appointed  a  second  officer  to  share  the 
command  of  the  party,  and  the  man  to  fill  the  post  was 
also  selected  by  the  young  captain.  By  a  curious 
chance  the  individual  chosen  was  William  Clark, 
younger  brother  of  the  celebrated  western  general, 
George  Rogers  Clark,  to  whom  Jefferson  had  made 
the  first  proposal  of  an  overland  journey  to  the  Pacific 
in  1783.  Like  Lewis,  Clark  was  a  man  of  military  ex- 
perience, having  served  under  General  Wayne  ("  Mad 
Anthony ")  in  the  campaign  against  the  Ohio  In- 
dians. He  had  travelled  widely  in  the  West,  on  sev«- 
eral  occasions  even  crossing  the  Mississippi.  Clark 
was  a  few  years  older  than  Lewis,  and  differed  from 
him  in  being  less  imaginative  and  enthusiastic;  but  in 
all  respects  he  was  a  worthy  companion,  splendidly 
qualified  to  share  the  responsibility  of  the  great  enter- 
prise. The  two  leaders  were  peculiarly  fitted  to  work 
together  harmoniously,  and  did  so  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end  of  the  expedition. 


Openmg  a  Highway  to   the  Pacific  49 

Instructions.  The  main  object.  Jefferson  per- 
sonally prepared  the  instructions  which  were  to  govern 
the  leaders  in  their  work.  "  The  object  of  your  mis- 
sion," he  wrote  to  Lewis,  "  is  to  explore  the  Missouri 
River  and  such  principal  stream  of  it  as,  by  its  course 
and  communication  with  the  waters  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  whether  the  Columbia,  Oregon,  Colorado,  or 
some  other  river,  may  offer  the  most  direct  and  prac- 
tical water  communication  across  the  continent  for  the 
purpose  of  commerce." 

Notes  and  records.  They  were  to  keep  careful  rec- 
ords da}-  by  day  of  the  distances  travelled  and  the 
points  of  interest  along  the  route.  All  noteworthy 
geographical  features,  such  as  the  mouths  of  tributary 
ttt'ers,  rapids,  falls,  and  islands,  were  to  be  accurately 
located  with  respect  to  latitude  and  longitude,  so  that  a 
correct  map  of  the  rivers  followed  and  the  portages 
between  them  could  be  drawn  from  the  explorers' 
notes.  The  President  suggested  that  several  copies  of 
these  notes  should  be  made  in  order  to  guard  against 
their  loss  by  accident ;  and  also  "  that  one  of  these 
copies  be  on  the  cuticular  membranes  of  the  paper- 
birch  as  being  less  liable  to  injury  from  damp  than 
common  paper."  The  officers  were  urged  to  induce  as 
many  of  the  men  as  possible  to  keep  diaries,  and  sev- 
eral of  them  did  so. 

Dealing  with  Indians.  Full  instructions  were 
given  about  dealing  with  the  Indian  tribes  along  the 
route,  the  explorers  being  required  to  "  treat  them  in 
the  most  friendly  and  conciliatory  manner  which  their 


50         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

own  conduct  will  admit " ;  they  were  to  impress  upon 
the  red  men  that  the  United  States  was  not  only  their 
friend,  but  that  she  was  a  great  and  strong  power  able 
to  afford  them  full  protection.  If  possible,  they 
should  arrange  to  have  a  few  influential  chiefs  visit 
Washington. 

Other  matters.  The  President  made  his  instruc- 
tions complete  enough  to  cover  every  detail  of  the 
work  proposed.  Climate,  soil,  plants,  animals,  curi- 
ous geological  remains,  Indian  legends  —  all  these  and 
other  matters  were  to  be  kept  in  mind,  and  all  possible 
information  secured  concerning  them.  "  Should  you 
reach  the  Pacific  Ocean,"  he  said,  "  inform  yourself 
whether  the  furs  of  those  parts  may  not  be  collected  as 
advantageously  at  the  head  of  the  Missouri  ...  as 
at  Nootka  Sound  or  any  other  point  of  that  coast." 
If  so,  the  trade  not  only  of  the  Missouri  and  Columbia, 
but  of  the  Northwest  Coast  as  well,  might  be  carried 
across  the  continent  to  the  eastern  seaboard  of  the 
United  States.  One  of  the  most  pleasing  paragraphs 
in  the  instructions  is  that  in  which  the  humane  philoso- 
pher says  to  Lewis,  "  We  wish  you  to  err  on  the  side 
of  your  safety,  and  to  bring  back  your  party  safe,  even 
if  it  be  with  less  information." 

Preparations.  Gathering  the  party.  Captain 
Lewis  spent  several  weeks  in  Philadelphia,  under  sci- 
entific instructors,  and  then  set  out  for  the  West.  He 
expected  to  get  under  way  up  the  Missouri  before  the 
end  of  the  year  1803.  But  delays  at  Pittsburg, 
where  a  drunken  boat  builder  kept  him  waiting  a 


Opening  a  Highway  to   the  Pacific  51 

month,  and  difficulties  in  navigating  the  Ohio  during 
low  water,  wore  away  the  summer.  Clark  joined  him 
in  Kentucky,  and  at  several  of  the  western  posts  sol- 
diers were  enlisted  for  the  journey.  Of  these  there 
were  four  sergeants  and  twenty-three  privates,  includ- 
ing nine  Kentucky  hunters.  Two  French  interpre- 
ters, the  Indian  wife  of  one  of  these  (Sacajawea),  and 
Clark's  burly  negro,  York,  completed  the  party.  Six- 
teen additional  soldiers  and  water  men  were  engaged 
to  accompany  the  expedition  as  far  as  the  villages  of 
Mandan  Indians.^ 

The  first  winter.  The  winter  of  1 803-1 804  was 
passed  in  camp  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Du  Bois, 
opposite  the  Missouri.  Captain  Clark  spent  most  of 
his  time  in  drilling  the  men,  building  boats,  and  making 
other  necessary  arrangements  about  the  establishment ; 
while  Lewis  purchased  supplies  at  St.  Louis,  and  gath- 
ered information  concerning  the  route  from  traders 
who  thus  early  were  familiar  with  the  river  as  far  as 
the  Mandan  villages.  He  frequently  visited  the  Amer- 
ican officers,  and  other  persons  of  note  in  the  little 
French  hamlet,  so  soon  to  become  an  important  Amer- 
ican town.  On  the  9th  of  March  he  witnessed  the 
ceremony  of  lowering  the  foreign  flag  and  raising  the 
emblem  of  our  own  country  over  the  territory  of  upper 
Louisiana. 

iThe  muster  roll  of  the  party,  on  leaving  Fort  Mandan,  is 
given  in  Coues's  "Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition,"  New  York,  1891, 
I.  P-  253,  note.  Much  interesting  matter  on  the  persons  composing 
the  party  is  contained  in  Eva  Emery  Dye's  "  Conquest,"  Chicago, 
1902. 


52         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

The  start.  La  Charette.  By  the  14th  of  May  the 
final  touches  had  been  given  to  the  preparations,  and 
the  exploring  party  commenced  the  historic  journey 
across  the  continent.  Their  supplies,  instruments, 
articles  for  trade  and  presents  for  the  Indians  were 
carried  in  a  flotilla  consisting  of  three  boats :  one  was 
a  keel  boat  of  twenty-two  oars,  with  deck,  sail,  and 
breastworks ;  the  other  two  were  small  craft,  of  six  and 
seven  oars  respectively.  Many  of  the  leading  citizens 
of  St.  Louis  turned  out  to  see  them  off.  As  the  boats 
toiled  up  the  swift-flowing  Missouri  they  were  often 
hailed  from  the  banks  by  groups  of  French  settlers, 
and  sometimes  by  companies  of  Americans  who  were 
already  beginning  to  emigrate  to  this  newly  opened  re- 
gion of  the  West.  At  St.  Charles  they  made  a  halt  of 
several  days,  and  it  was  not  till  the  25th  of  May  that 
the  explorers  passed  La  Charette,  the  home  of  Daniel 
Boone,  and  the  last  settlement  on  the  Missouri.  From 
this  point  their  path  lay  wholly  within  the  Indian  coun- 
try. 

They  meet  up-river  traders.  On  the  5th  of  June 
they  "  met  a  raft  of  two  canoes  joined  together,  in 
which  two  French  traders  were  descending  from 
eighty  leagues  up  the  Kansas  River,  where  they  had 
wintered  and  caught  great  quantities  of  beaver." 
Nine  days  later  they  encountered  another  party  of 
traders  coming  down  from  the  Platte.  The  4th  of 
July  was  celebrated  by  the  firing  of  the  big  gun,  and 
apparently  in  other  ways,  for  one  of  the  journalists 
says  that  a  man  was  snake-bitten. 


opening  a  Highway  to   the  Pacific  53 

Indian  council;  Council  Bluff;  death  of  Charles 
Floyd.  On  the  east  side  of  the  Missouri,  near  the 
mouth  of  Platte  River,  Lewis  and  Clark  held  councils 
with  the  Oto  and  Missouri  Indians,  giving  the  chiefs 
medals  to  hang  about  their  necks,  distributing  flags, 
and  leaving  other  tokens  of  Am^erican  supremacy. 
The  place  of  the  gathering  they  named  Council  Bluff, 
noting  that  here  was  a  good  situation  for  a  fort  and 
trading  house.  The  soil  was  good  for  brick,  wood  was 
convenient,  and  the  air  was  "  pure  and  healthy."  One 
other  incident  of  this  part  of  the  journey  is  de- 
serving of  notice.  On  the  20th  of  August,  when  the 
party  was  passing  the  site  of  the  present  Sioux  City, 
Sergeant  Charles  Floyd  died  and  was  buried  by  his 
companions  near  the  river.  This  is  the  only  death 
that  occurred  on  the  entire  journey. 

Missouri  River  landscape.  Buffalo.  The  coun- 
try afforded  little  variety  of  landscape  as  day  by  day 
the  exploring  party  moved  along  the  course  of  the 
Missouri.  Almost  everywhere  was  the  narrow  fringe 
of  forest,  running  down  to  the  water's  edge,  while  here 
and  there  a  wood-covered  island  divided  the  current  of 
the  river.  Parallel  to  the  stream,  and  at  varying  dis- 
tances from  it,  low  ranges  of  hills  separated  the  valley 
from  the  broad  prairie  beyond.  Deep  ravines,  cutting 
across  the  line  of  bluffs,  opened  natural  highways  from 
river  to  upland,  and  these  were  often  worn  down  by 
the  hoofs  of  the  buffalo,  which  regularly  followed 
such  paths  in  search  of  water.  Immense  herds  of 
these  animals  were  seen,  and  many  were  slain  by  the 


54         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

hunters,  adding  not  a  little  to  the  good  cheer  that  en- 
livened the  evening  camp. 

Arrival  at  the  Mandan  villages;  Fort  Mandan; 
the  winter's  work;  British  traders.  About  the  end 
of  October  they  reached  the  villages  of  the  Mandan 
Indians,  within  the  present  boundaries  of  North 
Dakota.  The  sharp  night  frosts  warning  them  of  ap- 
proaching winter,  it  was  decided  to  establish  quarters 
here.  A  site  was  chosen,  cottonwood  and  elm  logs 
were  brought  from  the  river  bottom,  and  a 
"  fort "  built.  This  consisted  simply  of  two  rows 
of  rude  block-houses,  placed  in  the  form  of 
a  letter  "  V,"  with  shed  roofs  rising  from  the 
inner  sides.  A  row  of  strong  posts,  or  palisades, 
completed  the  triangle.  Such  was  Fort  Mandan, 
where  Lewis  and  Clark  spent  the  long,  severe, 
yet  busy  and  not  unpleasant  winter  of  1804- 
1805.  Many  things  required  to  be  done.  There  were 
notes  to  copy,  reports  to  write,  maps  to  draw ;  articles 
of  interest  found  on  the  trip  up  the  Missouri  must  be 
prepared  for  submission  to  the  President;  new  boats 
were  needed  for  the  upward  journey.  These  prepara- 
tions occupied  the  leaders  during  a  large  part  of  the 
winter;  but  they  took  occasion,  also,  to  visit  all  of  the 
surrounding  Indian  tribes,  and  to  make  the  best  ar- 
rangements possible  concerning  future  trade  with  them. 
British  traders  from  the  far  north  visited  them  at 
Mandan  during  the  winter,  and  carried  back  to  the 
posts  of  the  Northwest  Company  and  to  Montreal  re- 


-     opening  a  Highway  to   the  Pacific  55 

ports  concerning  the  iVmcrican  party  which  was  on  its 
way  to  the  Pacific. 

Up  the  Missouri  again.  The  Yellowstone.  In 
March  the  thaw  came,  and  soon  the  Missouri  was  once 
more  free  of  ice.  On  the  7th  of  April,  after  starting 
the  keel  boat  down  the  river,  the  eager  travellers  pro- 
ceeded on  their  way  rejoicing  in  the  expectation  of 
soon  beholding  the  River  of  the  West,  and  the  great 
ocean  which  was  the  object  of  their  search.  Before 
the  month  closed  they  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Yellow- 
stone, where  the  plains  were  "  animated  by  vast  herds 
of  buffalo,  deer,  elk,  and  antelope,"  usually  so  tame 
that  they  allowed  the  hunter  to  come  very  near  them, 
"  and  often  followed  him  quietly  for  some  distance." 
Beaver,  too,  were  especially  abundant  here.  From 
Indian  travellers  Lewis  obtained  a  good  account  of  the 
Yellowstone,  and  the  country  through  which  it  flows. 
Near  its  confluence  with  the  Missouri  was  "  a  situation 
highly  eligible  for  a  trading  establishment." 

The  grizzly  bear.  Other  terrors.  One  form  of 
game  found  in  this  region  was  rather  tamer  than  the 
explorers  desired  it  to  be,  the  grizzly  bears,  with  which 
they  had  many  thrilling  encounters.  On  one  occasion, 
when  he  had  just  discharged  his  rifle  at  a  buffalo.  Cap- 
tain Lewis  discovered  one  of  these  terrible  animals 
rushing  furiously  toward  him,  with  jaws  distended, 
ready  to  tear  him  in  pieces.  There  were  no  trees  at 
hand,  and  the  captain  had  barely  time  to  reach  the 
river  bank  and  leap  into  the  water,  when  he  was  able 


^6         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

to  frighten  the  beast  off  with  his  halberd.  Other  ter- 
rors were  not  wanting.  A  buffalo  bull  storming 
through  camp  after  dark,  a  night  fire  and  falling  tree 
trunk,  dangerous  rapids,  the  upsetting  of  a  boat  — 
these  are  but  hints  to  indicate  the  nature  of  the  experi- 
ences with  which  the  days  and  nights  were  filled,  as 
the  explorers  pushed  on  through  this  wild  but  inter- 
esting region,  toward  the  sources  of  the  great  Mis- 
souri. 

The  interlocking  rivers.  After  some  difficulty  at 
the  Three  Forks,  they  ascended  what  they  called  the 
Jefferson  branch,  and  on  the  12th  of  August  Captain 
Lewis,  with  one  division  of  the  party,  arrived  at  the 
headsprings  of  the  river,  high  up  near  the  summit  of 
the  Rockies,  in  a  spot  "  which  had  never  yet  been  seen 
by  civilized  man."  On  the  same  day  he  crossed  over 
to  "  a  handsome  bold  creek  of  cold,  clear  water,"  -Halv- 
ing westward.  The  interlocking  rivers,  one  flowing  to 
the  Atlantic,  the  other  to  the  Pacific,  had  at  last  been 
found. 

The  Shoshones.  Sacajawea.  It  was  not  long  be- 
fore he  discovered  a  party  of  Shoshone  Indians,  from 
whom,  after  much  delay,  horses  were  procured  for  the 
journey  to  the  navigable  waters  of  the  Columbia.  At 
this  point  the  Indian  woman,  Sacajawea,  proved  ex- 
tremely helpful,  for  she  belonged  to  the  tribe  of  Sho- 
shones and  turned  out  to  be  the  sister  of  a  leading 
chief. 

Character  of  the  west  slope  of  the  Rockies ;  prob- 
lem of  the  route.     The  explorers  were  now  face  to 


opening  a  Highway   to   the  Pacific  57 

face  with  the  most  serious  problem  encountered  dur- 
ing the  journey.  The  western  slope  of  the  Rockies 
differed  greatly  from  the  eastern  in  being  much,  more 
rugged  and  precipitous,  with  deep  caiions  through 
^\•hich  the  rivers  rushed  and  swirled  for  great  dis- 
tances, until  finally,  on  emerging  from  the  mountains, 
they  became  navigable  for  boats.  The  travellers  had 
Ijeen  able  to  ascend  the  Missouri,  to  its  source,  with 
comparative  ease,  following  along  the  river  valley 
which  usually  was  free  from  serious  obstructions,  a 
plain  and  easy  path,  sloping  so  gradually  that  it  ap- 
peared to  be  almost  level.  Now  they  must  make  their 
way  over  sharp  ridges,  through  terrific  mountain  de- 
files, choked  with  fallen  timber  and  masses  of  rock 
debris.  Moreover,  they  had  no  satisfactory  way  of 
determining  what  route  to  take,  or  how  far  they  would 
be  obliged  to  travel  before  reaching  navigable  water. 
It  was  necessary  to  follow  the  advice  of  their  Shoshone 
friends  to  some  extent,  but  the  leaders  soon  found  that 
this  could  not  be  relied  upon  altogether. 

Clark  discovers  and  names  Lewis  River.  As  a 
preparatory  step.  Captain  Clark  explored  a  way  down 
Salmon  River  to  its  junction  with  a  larger  river  to 
which  he  gave  the  name  of  his  friend  Lewis. ^  But  he 
learned  that  this  stream  was  unnavigable  for  many 
miles  below  the  point  reached,  and  that  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  follow  its  course  through  the  cailon.  He 
therefore  returned,  and  the  explorers  decided  to  cross 
over  to  the  river  which  flowed  northward    (Clark's 

^  It  is  now  commonly  called  "  Snake  Rivev."' 


58         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Fork).  This  they  would  follow  to  a  point  below, 
where  an  Indian  road,  the  Lolo  Trail,  was  said  to 
cross  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains  to  the  mouth  of  the 
north  branch  of  the  Clearwater.  For  nearly  a  month 
they  threaded  dark  forests,  over  steep  hills,  rocks,  and 
fallen  trees ;  made  their  way  along  dangerous  cliffs ; 
crossed  raging  torrents,  whose  icy  waters  chilled  both 
men  and  animals.  Sometimes  they  encountered 
storms  of  sleet  and  snow,  again  the  ''  weather  was 
very  hot  and  oppressive."  Most  of  the  men  became 
sick,  and  all  were  much  reduced  in  strength.  Food 
was  so  scanty  that  they  were  compelled  to  kill  and  eat 
some  of  the  travel-worn  horses. 

Navigating  the  Columbia  to  the  sea;  under  the 
shadow  of  Mt.  Hood.  At  the  place  where  the  north 
fork  of  the  Clearwater  joins  the  river  of  that  name, 
the  party  prepared  five  canoes,  and  on  the  morning  of 
the  7th  of  October  entered  upon  the  last  stage  of  their 
eventful  journey.  The  difficulties  of  travel  were 
nearly  over,  for  the  boats  glided  swiftly  down  the  cur- 
rent, and  ten  days  brought  them  to  the  confluence  of  the 
Lewis  and  Columbia.  Here  they  were  greeted  by  a 
procession  of  two  hundred  Indians,  marching  in  their 
honour  to  the  music  of  primitive  drums.  In  two  weeks 
they  passed  the  Great  Falls  (Celilo),  Long  Narrows 
(Dalles),  and  Cascades,  reaching  on  the  2nd  of  Novem- 
ber the  tide-water  section  of  the  river.  Then,  on  the 
7th  of  November,  they  heard  the  breakers  roar,  and 
soon  saw,  spreading  and  rolling  before  them,  the  waves 


opening  a  Highway  to  the  Pacific  59 

of  the  western  ocean — "  the  object  of  our  labours,  the 
reward  of  all  our  anxieties." 

Establish  winter  quarters;  Fort  Clatsop.  The 
purpose  of  the  expedition  had  been  achieved.  A  high- 
way across  the  continent  of  North  America  was  now  an 
established  fact,  and  all  that  remained  to  be  done  was 
to  carry  back  the  news  of  the  great  discovery.  Jeffer- 
son had  instructed  Lewis  to  find,  if  possible,  a  ship  on 
the  Pacific  by  which  some  or  all  of  the  party  might  re- 
turn to  the  United  States  with  the  journals  of  the  ex- 
pedition. But,  while  traders  sometimes  entered  the 
Columbia,  as  the  natives  testified,  no  vessel  appeared 
during  the  winter  of  1 805-1 806.  All  that  could  be 
done  was  to  spend  the  rainy  season  on  the  Oregon 
coast,  and  take  up  the  return  march  overland  in  the 
spring.  At  a  place  three  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the 
Netal  (now  called  Lewis  and  Clark  River),  on  the 
"  first  point  of  high  land  on  its  western  bank,"  the  ex- 
plorers erected  a  low-roofed  log  building  to  which,  in 
honour  of  the  neighbouring  tribe  of  Indians,  they  gave 
the  name  of  Fort  Clatsop.^     The  location  was  by  no 

1  The  Netal  enters  Meriwether's,  now  called  Young's,  Bay.  The 
fort  was  located  two  hundred  yards  from  the  bank  of  the  river. 
It  was  in  the  form  of  a  square,  50x50  feet.  Two  cabins,  one  of 
three,  the  other  of  four,  rooms,  occupied  two  sides.  Between 
them  was  the  parade  ground,  the  ends  of  which  were  closed  by 
means  of  posts  or  palisades.  In  the  June  (1904)  number  of 
Scribne/s  Magazine,  Mr.  Reuben  Gold  Thwaites  publishes  for 
the  first  time  the  ground  plan  of  Fort  Clatsop.  The  drawing  was 
found  by  him  while  searching  among  Clark's  papers,  "  traced  upon 
the  rough  elk-skin  cover  of  his  field  book." 


6o         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

means  ideal,  for  the  party  was  in  need  of  food,  and  in 
this  region  game  was  not  very  plentifuh  The  winter 
at  Fort  Clatsop  was  therefore  a  time  of  real  hardship, 
relieved  by  the  hope  of  a  speedy  return  to  homes  beyond 
the  mountains.  The  shelter  was  completed  on  the  last 
day  of  December;  the  next  morning  "  a  volley  of  small 
arms  "  was  fired  "  to  salute  the  new  year."  Some  of 
the  men  were  kept  busy  hunting  the  lean  elk,  on  which 
the  party  was  forced  to  subsist ;  others  were  sent  to  the 
seacoast  —  seven  miles  distant  —  to  manufacture  a 
supply  of  salt.  At  the  fort  the  officers  busied  them- 
selves with  the  notes  and  journals  of  the  expedition. 

Completing  the  great  map.  On  the  nth  of  Feb- 
ruary Clark  finished  the  great  map  of  the  overland 
route,  so  often  printed,  and  a  copy  of  a  part  of  which 
is  found  in  this  book.  A  little  trade  with  the  Chi- 
nooks  and  Clatsops  (mainly  for  dogs,  fish,  and  wapato 
roots)  formed  the  chief  diversion  during  this  tedious 
winter. 

The  return  begun  March  23,  1806;  arrive  at  St. 
Louis  September  23,  1806.  The  days  dragged  pain- 
fully by  till  the  23d  of  IMarch,  when  our  travellers  com- 
menced the  homeward  journey.  Before  setting  out 
they  distributed  written  statements  among  the  Indians, 
explaining  who  it  was  that  had  so  mysteriously  come  to 
their  country  from  the  land  of  the  rising  sun.  These 
the  natives  were  instructed  to  show  to  any  white  men 
who  should  visit  the  river.  The  journey  eastward  was 
not  without  its  difficulties.  The  tribes  along  the  river 
demanded  high  prices  for  horses  and  dogs,  and  the 


The  Lewis  and  Clark  map  executed  at  Fort  Clatsop 


Astoria  in  1813 


Opening  a  Highway  to   the  Pacific  6 1 

stock  of  goods  carried  by  the  explorers  was  soon  ex- 
hausted. But  both  Lewis  and  Clark  were  skilled  in 
the  use  of  common  remedies  for  the  diseases  which  pre- 
vailed among  the  Indians,  and  by  selling  their  "  drugs  " 
at  a  high  price  they  were  able  to  buy  the  supplies  which 
were  indispensable  to  them.  The  snow  still  lay  deep 
in  the  gulches  when  the  party  reached  the  western  base 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  impeding  their  progress  for 
many  days;  but  in  spite  of  all  obstacles,  they  made  the 
journey  with  complete  success,  reaching  St.  Louis  on 
the  23d  of  September,  just  six  months  out  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia.^ 

1  Captain  Lewis  went  at  once  to  Washington  to  make  his  re- 
port to  President  Jefferson.  Soon  afterward  he  was  appointed 
governor  of  Missouri  Territory,  but  died  very  suddenly  and  mys- 
teriously, in  i8og,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-five. 

Captain  Clark  was  for  many  years  the  United  States  superin- 
tendent of  Indian  affairs  for  the  West,  with  headquarters  at  St. 
Louis.     He  died  in  1838. 

The  journals  of  the  expedition,  very  much  amended  and  abbre- 
viated, were  first  published  in  1814  under  the  editorship  of  Nich- 
olas Biddle.  Many  editions,  based  upon  this  one,  have  appeared 
since  that  time,  the  most  satisfactory  being  that  by  Dr.  Elliott 
Coues,  New  York,  1891,  3  vols.  A  new  edition,  containing  a  lit- 
eral transcript  of  the  complete  journals,  and  much  matter  relat- 
ing to  the  expedition  not  hitherto  published,  was  issued  in  1905 
under  the  editorship  of  Reuben  Gold  Thwaites,  LL.  D. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    FUR    TRADE    ON    THE    COLUMBIA 

Lewis's  first  report.  Arriving  at  St.  Louis,  on  the 
23rd  of  September,  1806,  Captain  Lewis  wrote  to 
Jefferson  to  give  him  a  summary  of  what  had  been  ac- 
compHshed  since  the  party  left  the  Mandan  villages  in 
April,  1804,  nearly  two  and  one-half  years  previously.^ 

Description  of  the  route.  In  the  first  part  of  the 
letter  he  describes  the  route  pursued,  and  affirms  his 
belief  that  it  constitutes  the  best  available  line  of  com- 
munication across  the  continent.  Of  this  line  the  Mis- 
souri makes  2575  miles,  while  340  miles  of  land  car- 
riage connect  the  navigable  part  of  the  Missouri  with 
the  navigable  part  of  the  Columbia.  Of  the  340  miles 
of  land  carriage,  200  miles  is  along  a  good  road,  while 
140  miles  is  "  over  tremendous  mountains  which  for 
60  miles  are  covered  with  eternal  snows." 

Despite  the  obstacle  of  the  mountains,  the  passage, 
he  says,  is  practicable  from  the  last  of  June  to  the  last 
of  September,  while  owing  to  the  abundance  and  the 
cheapness  of  horses  among  the  Indians,  the  cost  of 
transporting  goods  over  that  stretch  of  road  would  be 

1  Tliwaites.     Original  Journals  of  Lewis  &  Clark,  V,  VII,  pp. 

334-337. 

62 


The  Fur   Trade  on  the  Columbia  63 

very  light.     The  Columbia  could  be  navigated  safely 
from  the  first  of  April  to  the  middle  of  August. 

Advantages  for  the  fur  trade;  that  trade  should 
tend  westward  not  eastward.  Lewis  considered  the 
new  route  as  offering  special  advantages  for  the  devel- 
opment of  a  fur  trade. ^  The  greater  part  of  the  letter 
is  devoted  to  an  outline  of  the  plan  upon  which  this 
trade  should  be  carried  on.  This  outline,  by  the  man 
who  had  actually  investigated  the  subject  at  first  hand, 
differed  widely  from  that  suggested  to  him  by  Jeffer- 
son in  the  instructions  of  April,  1803.  Jefferson 
wished  to  know  if  the  furs  of  the  Columbia  and  those 
collected  along  the  Pacific,  as  well  as  the  Missouri 
River  furs,  might  not  be  carried  overland,  by  the 
Columbia  and  the  Missouri,  to  the  United  States. 
Lewis  found,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  furs  of  the 
upper  Missouri  streams  might  be  carried  across  the 
mountains  to  the  Columbia,  where,  their  volume 
swelled  by  the  furs  collected  on  the  Columbia  and  its 
branches,  they  could  be  carried  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  each  year  by  the  first  of  August.  Thence 
they  could  be  shipped  to  Canton,  China,  where  they 
would  arrive  earlier  than  the  annual  shipments  from 

1  He  does  not  think  it  equal  to  the  route  around  South  America 
for  the  transportation  of  East  Indian  goods  to  the  United  States 
and  thence  to  Europe,  although  "  many  articles  not  bulky,  brittle, 
or  of  a  perishable  nature  may  be  conveyed  to  the  United  States 
by  this  route  with  more  facility  and  less  expense  than  by  that  at 
present  practised." 

His  reference  to  oriental  trade,  in  this  letter,  shows  that  the 
subject  had  been  discussed  between  Jefferson  and  Lewis. 


64         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Montreal  arrive  in  England.  This  advantage  in  time 
of  marketing  the  furs,  would  prove  so  attractive,  that 
Lewis  apparently  thought  the  Northwest  Company  of 
Canada  also  would  seek  the  privilege  of  conveying  their 
furs  from  the  region  south  and  west  of  Lake  Winnipeg 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  for  shipment  to  China. 

By  establishing  stations  on  the  Columbia  at  various 
points,  and  employing  a  sufficient  number  of  men  to 
handle  the  business  effectively,  Lewis  foresaw  that 
East  India  commodities  might  be  carried  up  the 
Columbia  each  spring,  and  about  July  these  could  be 
exchanged  at  the  upper  stations  for  the  furs  brought 
from  east  of  the  mountains.  The  furs  would  be  car- 
ried down  the  river  to  be  shipped  across  the  Pacific; 
the  India  goods  would  reach  St.  Louis  by  the  end  of 
September  each  year. 

The  richest  fur  country.  Lewis  considered  the 
Rocky  Mountain  branches  of  the  Missouri,  and  all  of 
its  streams  as  far  east  as  the  mouth  of  the  Cheyenne, 
to  be  "  richer  in  beaver  and  otter  than  any  other  coun- 
try on  earth."  The  Columbia  had  fewer  beaver  and 
otter,  but  yet  considerable  numbers  of  them,  and  in 
addition  a  variety  of  other  fur  bearing  animals,  bears, 
the  tiger  cat,  foxes,  the  martin,  etc. 

Government  aid  suggested.  He  concludes  this 
section  of  his  letter  with  the  words:  "  If  the  govern- 
ment will  only  aid  even  on  a  limited  scale  the  enterprise 
of  her  citizens  I  am  convinced  that  we  shall  soon  derive 
the  benefits  of  a  most  lucrative  trade  from  this  source 
and  in  the  course  of  ten  or  twelve  years  a  tour  across 


The  Fur   Trade  on  the  Columbia  65 

the  continent  by  this  route  will  be  undertaken  with  as 
little  concern  as  a  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  is  at 
present." 

The  suggestion  in  Lewis's  letter  that  the  Northwest 
Company  of  Canada  would  probably  seek  the  lower 
Columbia  for  the  sake  of  the  China  market  is  interest- 
ing in  view  of  the  activities  of  that  company  at  this 
very  time. 

Plans  of  the  Northwest  Company;  Mackenzie's 
plan  again;  its  execution  deferred.  We  recall  that 
Mackenzie,  in  1801,  published  his  plan  for  a  union  of 
the  Hudson  Bay  and  Northwest  companies  with  a 
view  to  engross  the  fur  trade  of  the  entire  region  of 
North  America  above  the  forty-fifth  parallel.  This 
plan  contemplated  utilizing  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia 
on  the  Pacific  and  Hudson  Bay  on  the  Atlantic  side  as 
the  sea-ports  serving  a  world  trade,  the  two  ports  being 
connected  by  a  great  line  of  trading  posts  along  the 
main  water  courses  east  and  west  of  the  Rockies. 
Troubles  in  Canada,  between  the  two  great  companies, 
and  within  the  Northwest  Company's  group  itself,  de- 
layed all  plans  of  carrying  the  trade  into  the  region  be- 
yond the  Rockies  explored  in  part  by  Mackenzie  in 

1793- 

The  company  crosses  the  Rockies.  In  1805,  the 
Northwest  Company,  stimulated  by  a  knowledge  of  the 
effects  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  expedition,  resolved  to 
plant  trading  stations  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  in, 
as  they  supposed  from  Mackenzie's  report,  the  region 
of  the   Columbia   River.     Mr.   Simon   Fraser  in   the 


66         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

autumn  of  that  year,  planted  the  first  of  those  stations, 
Fort  McLeod,  in  latitude  55°  north.^  Thus,  while 
Lewis  and  Clark  were  wintering  at  Fort  Clatsop,  within 
the  sound  of  the  breakers  of  the  Pacific,  a  small  party 
left  by  Fraser  spent  the  winter  west  of  the  Rockies,  in 
the  far  interior,  nearly  nine  degrees  of  latitude  to  the 
northward,  on  the  shores  of  Lake  McLeod. 

Eraser's  new  trading  posts;  exploring  the  great 
river.  In  1806  Fraser  founded  two  other  stations, 
Fort  St.  James,  on  Stuart  Lake,  and  Fort  Fraser  at 
Fraser  Lake.  Then,  in  the  spring  of  1807,  came  orders 
for  him  to  explore  the  great  river  still  believed  to  be 
the  Columbia,  in  order  to  limit  American  activities 
and  to  find  a  more  practicable  route  than  the  one  by 
Peace  River  for  the  trade  into  the  trans-Rocky  Moun- 
tain region.^  With  incredible  difficulty,  Fraser  de- 
scended the  great  river  in  the  summer  of  1808,  reaching 
the  sea  coast  in  July,  to  find,  on  determining  its  lati- 
tude, that  the  river  was  not  the  Columbia  at  all ! 

David  Thompson.  When  Fraser  was  beginning 
his  preparations  for  descending  the  river  he  supposed 
to  be  the  Columbia,  David  Thompson  was  crossing 
the  Rockies  at  Howse  Pass.  He  reached,  on  June  22, 
1807,  a  tributary  of  the  real  Columbia  but,  while  he 
spent  much  time  during  the  years  following  on  the 
upper  waters  of  the  river,  it  was  not  till  four  years 
later  that  he  descended  to  its  mouth.  When  he  did  so 
he  encountered  the  Astor  party  who  had  already  con- 

1  Morice.     The  Northern  Interior  of  British  Columbia,  54. 

2  Morice,  p.  70-71. 


The  Fur  Trade  on  the  Columbia  67 

structed  a  fort,  Astoria,  and  were  ready  to  ascend  the 
river  to  begin  the  fur  trade  in  regions  previously 
visited  by  Thompson. 

Commercial  strategy  and  the  Columbia.  In  the 
development  of  the  western  fur  trade  of  the  United 
States  a  natural  development,  after  Lewis  and  Clark's 
journey,  would  have  been  to  carry  that  trade  into  the 
uniquely  rich  beaver  and  otter  regions  of  the  upper 
Missouri,  thence  across  into  the  mountain  country 
where  multitudes  of  streams  flow  westward  to  form 
the  Columbia,  and  finally  along  the  Columbia  to  the 
sea.  This  doubtless  would  have  been  the  course  of 
evolution,  had  not  commercial  strategy  seemed  to  de- 
mand the  prompt  occupation  by  Americans  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia.  IMackenzie  had  urged  the  im- 
portance of  such  an  occupation,  from  the  Canadian 
point  of  view,  in  1801.  The  Northwest  Company, 
fearing  that  the  Lewis  and  Clark  exploration  boded  an 
American  occupation,  were  straining  every  effort  to 
anticipate  the  Americans.  Under  the  circumstances, 
it  would  not  do  to  allow  many  years  to  pass,  while 
trade  was  laboriously  pushing  its  way  w^estward  across 
the  Rockies  and  down  the  Columbia,  before  occupying 
the  dominating  position  at  the  mouth  of  the  great  river 
itself. 

This  was  the  reasoning  of  Mr.  John  Jacob  Astor, 
who  was  one  of  the  most  far-sighted  and  statesmanlike 
among  the  American  merchants  of  the  day. 

Astor  had  been  engaged  in  a  world  trade,  from  New 
York,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.     He  early  began  to 


68         A  History   of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

specialize  in  furs,  making  up  many  of  his  cargoes  at 
Montreal,  the  headquarters  of  the  Northwest  Com- 
pany. 

As  he  bought  the  Northwest  Company's  bales  of 
beaver  and  otter  skins  for  the  purpose  of  a  world  ex- 
change, Astor  studied  the  methods  and  the  organiza- 
tion by  which  the  primary  fur  trade  of  the  wilderness 
was  conducted. 

Aster's  trading  project.  When  Lewis  and  Clark 
returned  from  their  journey,  with  information  about 
the  route  to  the  Pacific  and  the  opportunities  for  trade 
along  the  Missouri  and  Columbia  rivers,  Mr.  Astor 
planned  a  brilliant  trading  project,  similar  in  many 
v^ays  to  that  of  Mackenzie.  He  believed  it  would  be 
possible,  with  his  large  capital  and  tested  business  abil- 
ity, to  gain  control  of  the  trade  over  a  broad  belt  of 
country  stretching  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  The  first  point  was  to  push  westward  to  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Missouri.  For  this  purpose  he  or- 
ganized (1808)  the  American  Fur  Company,  in  which 
Astor  himself  was  the  principal  stockholder.  Next  he 
proposed  to  establish  a  central  station,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Columbia,  for  the  trade  of  the  region  lying  beyond 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  build  a  line  of  trading  posts 
along  the  route  explored  by  Lewis  and  Clark  from  the 
Pacific  Ocean  to  the  Mississippi.^  He  planned  to  send 
from  New  York  every  fall  one  ship  freighted  with 

1  Astor  had  already  begun  a  trade  along  the  Great  Lakes,  so  that 
practically  the  great  depot  on  the  Pacific  would  be  connected 
with  his  business  office  in  New  York. 


The  Fur  Trade  on  the  Columbia  69 

goods  for  the  Indian  trade,  and  supplies  for  all  the 
posts  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  On  arriving  in 
the  Columbia,  about  February  or  March,  she  was  to 
unload  this  portion  of  her  cargo  and  sail  along  the  coast 
to  gather  the  sea  otter  and  other  furs  which  the  natives 
had  long  been  accustomed  to  sell  to  American  shipown- 
ers who  visited  those  coasts  at  irregular  intervals.  This 
cruise  was  to  be  extended  as  far  north  as  Sitka,  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  supplies  to  the  Russians  in  ex- 
change for  their  furs.^  Thereafter  she  was  to  return 
to  the  Columbia.  Meantime,  in  May  or  June,  the  trad- 
ers from  the  interior  posts  would  have  delivered  at  the 
central  station  all  the  furs  secured  during  the  preced- 
ing winter  on  the  rivers  flowing  into  the  Columbia. 
These  were  then  to  be  placed  on  board  the  vessel,  which 
would  sail  to  Canton  during  the  following  winter. 
The  cargo  of  furs  was  to  be  exchanged  for  an  equally 
valuable  cargo  of  silks,  tea,  and  other  Chinese  goods, 
with  which  the  Astor  ship  was  expected  to  return  to 
New  York  after  an  absence  of  about  two  years. 

He  sends  the  Tonquin  to  the  Columbia.  Such 
was  the  plan  worked  out  in  all  its  details  by  Mr.  Astor 
before  any  part  of  it  was  put  into  operation.  In  the 
summer  of  18 10  he  fitted  out  his  first  ship,  the  Ton- 

lAt  Sitka  (New  Archangel)  the  Russian  American  Fur  Com- 
pany collected  furs  from  the  neighbouring  islands,  the  Alaskan 
coast,  and  the  interior.  But  they  had  very  poor  facilities  both 
for  marketing  their  product  and  obtaining  necessary  supplies. 
They  were  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  make  arrangements  with  Mr. 
Astor  by  which  their  furs  were  to  be  carried  to  the  Canton  market 
and  regular  supplies  brought  to  New  Archangel. 


yo         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

quin,  for  the  voyage  around  Cape  Horn.  She  was 
placed  in  charge  of  Captain  Jonathan  Thorn,  and  left 
New  York  under  the  convoy  of  the  famous  American 
warship  Constitution.  On  board  the  Tonquin  were 
several  of  the  partners  of  the  Pacific  Fur  Company, 
organized  by  Mr.  Astor  to  carry  out  his  project.  Most 
of  these  had  been  engaged  in  Canada,  among  the  men 
belonging  to  the  Northwest  Company.  The  clerks,  too, 
were  nearly  all  Canadians.^  The  Tonquin  left  New 
York  on  the  6th  of  September,  1810,  rounded  Cape 
Horn  in  December,  and  two  months  later  arrived  at 
the  Hawaiian  Islands.  The  voyage  thus  far  had  been 
without  serious  accident,  but  was  marred  by  almost 
ceaseless  wrangling  between  the  captain  and  the  Cana- 
dian partners.  While  a  good  disciplinarian,  and 
doubtless  a  very  successful  commander  on  a  ship  of 
war,  Captain  Thorn  was  not  well  qualified  to  manage 
a  group  of  independent  Scotch  and  American  fur 
traders. 

Arrival  at  the  Columbia ;  Astoria.  When  the  ship 
arrived  off  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  March  22, 
181 1,  new  difficulties  arose.  The  waves  were  running 
high,  and  the  line  of  breakers  agfoss  the  entrance  to  the 
river  struck  terror  to  the  hearts  of  inexperienced  sail- 
ors. Yet  the  captain  sent  out  men  in  the  ship's  boat 
to  sound  the  channel,  a  proceeding  in  which  seven  of 
the  little  company  lost  their  lives.     Three  days  passed 

1  For  a  delightful  account  of  the  way  these  Canadians  went 
down  to  New  York,  by  boat,  to  await  the  sailing  of  the  Tonquin, 
see  Franchere's  Narrative,  New  York,  1854,  pp.  23-25. 


The  Fur  Trade  on  the  Columbia  71 

before  the  Tonquin  crossed  the  bar  and  anchored  safe 
in  the  river.  Then  the  Astor  party  selected  a  site  for 
their  fort,  and  began  the  erection  of  the  Pacific  coast 
emporium  of  the  fur  trade,  which  was  appropriately 
named  Astoria.  "  Spring,  usually  so  tardy  in  this 
latitude,"  says  Franchere,  "  was  already  well  advanced; 
the  foliage  was  budding,  and  the  earth  was  clothing 
itself  with  verdure.  We  imagined  ourselves  in  the 
garden  of  Eden." 

Fate  of  the  Tonquin.  On  the  5th  of  June  the  Ton- 
quin left  the  river  on  her  northern  cruise  in  search  of 
furs.^  From  this  voyage  she  never  returned,  nor  did 
a  single  one  of  the  fated  men  who  sailed  in  her  from 
Astoria  live  to  tell  the  gruesome  story  of  the  Tonquin' s 
destruction.  That  awful  tale  is  known  only  from  the 
report  of  a  Gray's  Harbour  Indian,  who  was  taken  on 
board  as  an  interpreter  to  the  northern  tribes,  and  who 
escaped  death  when  the  ship  was  blown  to  atoms,  with 
several  hundred  natives  on  board,  in  the  bay  of  Clay- 
oquot. 

The  overland  party ;  Wilson  Price  Hunt.  About 
the  time  of  the  Tonquin's  arrival  on  the  Pacific  coast 
another  detachment  ofg^stor's  men  was  preparing  to 
cross  the  continent  by  following  the  trail  of  Lewis 
and  Clark.     This  company  was  under  the  direction  of 

1  One  of  the  partners,  Mr.  Alexander  Mackay,  was  on  board 
as  chief  trader.  He  was  a  former  Northwest  Company  man,  and 
had  been  the  companion  of  Mackenzie  on  his  famous  journey  to 
the  Pacific  in  1793.  He  was  a  man  of  abilit}',  very  popular  among 
his  associates,  and  his  death  in  the  Tonquin  disaster  was  deeply 
lamented. 


72         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Mr.  Wilson  Price  Hunt  of  New  Jersey,  an  American 
partner,  to  whom  Astor  had  confided  the  chief  man- 
agement of  the  Pacific  department  of  the  fur  trade. 
He  collected  most  of  his  men  in  Canada,  at  Montreal 
and  Mackinac,  carrying  them  to  St.  Louis  in  the  fall 
of  1810  in  boats,  by  way  of  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin 
rivers,  and  the  Mississippi.  They  spent  the  winter  in  a 
camp  near  the  frontier  of  settlement  on  the  Missouri, 
and  in  March  began  the  ascent  of  the  river.^  At  the 
Aricara  villages  (near  the  present  northern  boundary 
of  South  Dakota)  they  learned  that  the  Blackfoot  In- 
dians were  hostile,  and  therefore  decided  to  leave  the 
river,  making  their  way  overland  with  horses  in  a 
southwesterly  direction,  to  the  Big  Horn  and  Wind 
River  mountains.  They  crossed  these  ranges  and  en- 
tered the  Green  River  valley.     Passing  over  the  divide 

1  Bradbury,  an  English  naturalist,  to  whose  "  Travels  in  Amer- 
ica "  we  owe  the  preservation  of  many  of  the  incidents  of  the  trip 
as  far  as  the  Aricara  villages,  tells  us  (p.  16)  :  "  On  leaving  Char- 
ette,  Mr.  Hunt  pointed  out  to  me  an  old  man,  standing  on  the 
bank,  who  he  informed  me  was  Daniel  Boone,  the  discoverer  of 
Kentucky,  As  I  had  a  letter  of  introduction  to  him,  from  his 
nephew,  Colonel  Grant,  I  went  ashore  to  speak  to  him.  ...  I 
remained  for  some  time  in  conversation  with  him.  He  informed 
me  that  he  was  eighty-four  years  of  age;  that  he  had  spent  a 
considerable  portion  of  his  time  alone  in  the  backwoods,  and  had 
lately  returned  from  his  spring  hunt  with  nearly  sixty  beaver 
skins."  Irving,  after  reading  this  statement  of  Bradbury,  sug- 
gested that  the  veteran  woodsman  probably  felt  a  "  throb  of  the 
old  pioneer  spirit,  impelling  him  to  shoulder  his  rifle  and  join  the 
adventurous  band."  Though  he  failed  to  do  so  in  person,  his 
children  crossed  the  Rockies,  and  we  meet  his  name  in  both  Ore- 
gon and  California. 


The  Fur   Trade  on  the  Columbia  73 

to  Snake  River,  they  then  decided  to  abandon  their 
horses  and  take  to  canoes.  This  was  an  unfortunate 
error,  for  the  stream  soon,  contrary  to  appearances, 
proved  itself  a  true  mountain  torrent,  threatening  de- 
struction to  both  men  and  boats.  They  therefore  left 
it  (at  the  Cauldron  Linn)  and  set  out  on  foot,  after 
breaking  the  company  into  smaller  parties  to  make  it 
easier  to  find  game.  The  sufferings  of  these  men,  in 
their  weary  wanderings  over  the  Snake  River  desert, 
are  more  easily  imagined  than  described,  although  Mr. 
Irving,  in  his  classic  history  of  the  Astoria  enterprise, 
has  succeeded  in  giving  us  some  very  vivid  pictures. 
Hunt,  with  a  section  of  the  party,  reached  the  Grand 
Ronde  valley  at  the  close  of  the  year,  and  on  the  15th 
of  February  arrived  at  Astoria.  Some  had  already 
reached  the  fort;  others  straggled  in  from  time  to 
time,  till  nearly  all  were  safe. 

Ship  Beaver  arrives,  May  10,  181 2.  Soon  after 
this  overland  party  reached  the  lower  Columbia,  Mr. 
Astor's  ship,  the  Beaver,  sent  from  New  York  in  the 
fall  of  181 1,  anchored  (May  10,  1812)  in  the  Colum- 
bia River  with  a  cargo  similar  in  all  respects  to  that 
carried  by  the  Tonquin  the  year  before.  The  As- 
torians  were  greatly  rejoiced.  At  last  they  had  abun- 
dant supplies,  new  reinforcements  of  men,  and  every 
encouragement  to  carry  the  trade  far  up  the  rivers 
toward  the  sources  of  the  Columbia.  It  began  to  look 
as  if  Astor's  project  might  be  grandly  successful  after 
all,  despite  the  calamities  which  attended  its  beginnings. 

The  Northwesters  lose  the  race;  David  Thomp- 


74        -^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

son.     In  the  preceding  year,  before  the  fort  had  been 
completed  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  a  party  of  men 
prepared  to  ascend  the  Columbia  for  exploration  and 
trade;  but  just  as  they  were  setting  out  (July  15),  to 
the  astonishment  of  the  Americans,  a  canoe  floating  the 
British  flag  drew  in  to  the  shore  at  Astoria.     A  gen- 
tleman stepped  ashore,  and  introduced  himself  as  Mr. 
David  Thompson,  geographer  of  the  Northwest  Com- 
pany.    He  said  that  he  had  expected  to  reach  the  mouth 
of  the  river  during  the  preceding  fall,  and  had  actually 
wintered  west  of  the  Rockies,  but  that  owing  to  the 
desertion  of  some  of  his  men  it  was  impossible  to  carry 
out  his  plans.     The  Astorians  believed  it  was  his  inten- 
tion to  plant  a  fort  for  his  company  near  the  spot  where 
their  own  establishment  was  rising,  and  in  this  they 
were  doubtless  correct.     We  now  know,  from  Thomp- 
son's journal  and  other  sources,  that  this  indomitable 
British  "  pathfinder "  had  been  on  the  Pacific  slope 
several  times  prior  to  181 1,  the  first  time  as  early  as 
June,  1807.     In  1809  he  founded  a  Northwest  Com- 
pany fort  at  Lake  Pend  d'Oreille,  and  another  in  the 
Flathead  country,  on  Clark's  Fork.     A  still  earlier  es- 
tablishment was  that  on  the  Kootenai,  and  now  there 
was  also  one  on  the  Spokane  River.     The  Americans 
saw  at  once  that  here  was  a  formidable  rival  for  the 
up-river  trade ;  but  they  knew  their  advantage  as  the 
occupants  of  the  lower  Columbia,  and  determined  if 
possible  to  drive  their  Montreal  competitors  across  the 
Rockies. 
Fort    Okanogan    founded,    181 1.     The    delayed 


The  Fur   Trade  on  the  Columbia  75 

party,  under  David  Stuart,  one  of  Astor's  partners,  now 
set  out  up  the  river,  accompanied  as  far  as  the  Cas- 
cades by  Thompson  on  his  return.  When  Stuart's 
party  reached  the  place  where  the  Columbia  and  Snake 
rivers  meet  they  found  a  pole  stuck  in  the  ground,  and 
tightly  bound  around  it  a  sheet  of  paper  containing  the 
proclamation :  "  Know  hereby  that  this  country  is 
claimed  by  Great  Britain  as  part  of  its  territories,  that 
the  Northwest  Company  of  Merchants  from  Canada, 
finding  the  Factory  for  this  people  inconvenient  for 
them,  do  hereby  intend  to  erect  a  factory  in  this  place 
for  the  convenience  of  the  country  around.  D.  Thomp- 
son." Notwithstanding  this  announcement,  or  pos- 
sibly because  of  it,  Stuart  passed  right  on  up  the  north 
branch  to  Okanogan  River,  where  he  established  the 
first  up-river  fort  for  the  Astor  Company,  and  carried 
on  a  successful  winter's  trade. ^ 

Expansion  of  trade  in  181 2.  When  the  Beaver  ar- 
rived in  1 81 2,  with  men  and  supplies,  the  Astorians  de- 
cided on  a  great  forward  movement  to  the  interior. 
They  proposed  to  go  into  the  neighbourhood  of  every 
Northwest  post  and  begin  a  rival  establishment.  Thus 
they  planned  a  fort  on  the  Spokane,  with  branch  trad- 
ing houses  on  the  Flathead  (Clark's  Fork)  and  Koote- 

1  Alexander  Ross,  one  of  the  clerks,  who  spent  most  of  the  win- 
ter alone  at  Okanogan,  while  Stuart  was  exploring  far  to  the 
north  in  the  She  Whaps  country,  tells  us  in  his  book,  "The  Fur 
Hunters  of  the  Far  West,"  that  he  bought  fifteen  hundred  beaver, 
worth  in  Canton  twenty-five  hundred  pounds,  for  goods  worth, 
not  to  exceed  thirty-five  pounds.  This  he  calls  a  "specimen  of 
our  trade  among  the  Indians." 


76         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

nai  rivers,  and  another  in  the  She  Whaps  region.  A 
third  venture  was  to  be  made  on  Snake  River, 
while  the  trade  at  Okanogan  was  to  be  continued.^ 
The  Spokane  project  was  in  charge  of  Mr.  Clark,  David 
Stuart  went  back  to  Okanogan,  and  Mr.  Donald 
M'Kenzie  was  sent  up  Snake  River.  Both  Clark  and 
Stuart,  with  their  clerks  and  assistants  at  the  branch 
stations,  succeeded  admirably  in  the  trade  of  this  sec- 
ond winter.  M'Kenzie  did  nothing  on  the  Snake,  and 
by  the  middle  of  January  was  back  at  Astoria,  with  an 
alarming  story  which  foreshadowed  coming  events. 

War  news  crosses  the  Rockies.  While  visiting 
Spokane  House  about  the  close  of  the  year  1812,  so 
M'Kenzie  told  the  people  at  Astoria,  Mr.  John  George 
M'Tavish,  partner  of  the  Northwest  Company,  had 
arrived  fresh  from  ]\Iontreal,  with  news  that  war  had 
broken  out  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  that  the  company  was  expecting  an  English 
warship  to  enter  the  Pacific  and  capture  Astoria.  At 
this  time  the  fort  was  in  charge  of  Donald  M'Dougal,  a 
Canadian  like  M'Kenzie,  Hunt  having  sailed  away  the 
preceding  summer  in  the  Beaver,  and  being  still  absent. 
These  two  men  weakly  determined  to  abandon  the  Co- 
lumbia the  following  summer  and  cross  the  mountains ; 
but  the  other  partners  when  they  came  down  with  their 

1  At  the  same  time  Mr.  Robert  Stuart  was  sent  east  with  let- 
ters for  Mr.  Astor.  His  party  became  bewildered  in  the  upper 
Snake  River  country,  and  were  forced  to  winter  on  the  plains, 
reaching  St.  Louis  April  30,  1813,  after  being  out  nearly  a  year 
from  Astoria. 


The  Fur  Trade  on  the  Columbia  77 

furs  in  June  (181 3)  vetoed  this  plan,  insisting  on  re- 
maining another  winter  if  possible.  M'Tavish  de- 
scended the  river  with  his  men,  spent  much  time  about 
Astoria,  and  received  needed  supplies  from  the  Ameri- 
cans, while  he  waited  for  the  ship,  which,  as  he  declared, 
was  daily  expected. 

Movements  of  Mr.  Hunt.  Mr.  Hunt  sailed  away 
in  the  Beaver  on  the  4th  of  August,  18 12.  He  ran  to 
Sitka,  made  a  successful  trade  with  the  Russians,  and 
then  proceeded  to  the  islands  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul, 
where  he  received  eighty  thousand  sealskins.  By  this 
time  it  was  winter ;  the  vessel  was  much  damaged,  and 
all  haste  had  to  be  made  to  get  the  valuable  cargo  to 
Canton.  The  Beaver,  therefore,  did  not  stop  at  the 
Columbia,  but  carried  Hunt  to  Hawaii  and  continued 
on  to  China.  Here  the  captain  (Sowles)  obtained 
news  of  the  war,  which  sent  him  into  hiding  with  his 
vessel  till  it  was  over.  Hunt  finally  learned  of  the  war 
in  Hawaii  and  came  to  the  Columbia  in  an  American 
ship,  the  Albatross,  reaching  Astoria  August  4,  1813, 
after  an  absence  of  exactly  one  year.  He  learned  that 
the  partners  were  resolved  to  abandon  the  river,  and 
while  he  opposed,  he  could  not  change  the  resolution. 
Still,  hoping  to  save  something,  he  sailed  again  in  the 
Albatross  to  seek  a  vessel  which  might  be  available  for 
the  purpose  of  carrying  away  the  goods  and  furs. 

Astoria  sold,  October  16,  1813;  taken  by  the 
Raccoon  December  12  (or  13),  1813.  At  last,  on 
the  1 6th  of  October,  influenced  by  their  fears  if  not  by 
selfish  motives,  the  partners  sold  Astoria  and  its  be- 


78'         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

longings,  with  all  furs,  supplies,  and  other  property  at 
the  interior  stations  as  well,  to  the  Northwest  Com- 
pany. One  incident  remains,  and  the  story  of  Astoria 
is  finished.  "  On  the  morning  of  the  30th  "  (Novem- 
ber), says  Franchere,  "  we  saw  a  large  vessel  standing 
in  under  Cape  Disappointment;  .  .  .  she  was  the 
British  sloop-of-war.  Raccoon,  of  twenty-six  guns, 
commanded  by  Captain  Black."  .  .  .  The  long  looked- 
for  British  ship  had  come,  and  on  the  12th  of  Decem- 
ber (Henry  says  the  13th)  the  American  flag  was 
hauled  down  at  Astoria  to  make  place  for  the  Union 
Jack.  The  station  itself  was  rechristened  Fort  George. 
More  than  two  months  later  (February  28,  18 14)  Mr. 
Hunt  appeared  once  more,  in  the  brig  Pedlar,  pur- 
chased by  him  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  away  Astor's 
property.  He  was  too  late,  and  sailed  away  again, 
first  to  the  north,  then  down  the  coast  to  California 
and  Mexico.^ 

1  Most  of  the  Canadian  partners  of  Mr.  Aster  accepted  posi- 
tions with  the  Northwest  Company,  as  did  also  many  of  the  clerks 
and  labourers.  A  few,  including  IMr.  Gabriel  Franchere,  went 
back  to  Canada  overland  in  the  spring  of  1814,  with  the  Northwest 
Company's  express.  Franchere's  "  Narrative,"  and  two  similar 
books,  also  by  clerks  of  the  Astor  Company,  A.  Ross's  "  Fur 
Hunters  of  the  Far  West "  and  Ross  Cox's  "  Adventures  on  the 
Columbia,"  are  the  principal  sources  for  the  history  of  the  Astor 
enterprise.  All  of  these  have  long  been  out  of  print.  The 
"  Henry-Thompson  Journals,"  recently  published,  throw  additional 
light  on  some  phases  of  the  history,  and  Irving's  "  Astoria  "  con- 
tains some  matter  taken  from  manuscript  sources  not  now  ac- 
cessible. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   HUDSON    BAY    COMPANY 

Changes  on  the  Columbia.  When  Mr.  Hunt  bade 
farewell  to  the  Columbia  (April  2,  1814),  he  left  the 
British  rivals  in  full  control  not  only  of  the  fort  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  but  of  all  the  avenues  of  trade  be- 
tween the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Pacific,  from  Cali- 
fornia to  Alaska.  A  few  days  later  their  first  supply 
ship,  the  Isaac  Todd,  entered  the  river  with  a  cargo 
containing  everything  necessary  for  the  trade  of  the 
entire  department.  She  also  brought  additional  men, 
and  these  added  to  the  list  of  Astorians  already  en- 
gaged, gave  the  Northwest  Company  a  force  sufficient 
to  occupy  the  country  at  least  as  fully  as  Astor  had 
done.  They,  however,  made  no  important  change  in 
the  trade  for  several  years,  till  Donald  M'Kenzie  estab- 
lished the  Walla  Walla  Fort  ( 1818),  and  began  to  send 
trapping  parties  along  Snake  River.  This  greatly  ex- 
tended the  area  covered,  and  increased  the  profits  in  a 
marked  degree. 

Union  of  the  British  fur  companies,  1821.  In 
1 82 1  a  noteworthy  change  occurred  in  the  fur  trade 
of  the  British  dominions.  The  Hudson  Bay  and 
Northwest  companies,  whose  agents  had  long  been 
destroying  each  other  in  their  bitter  contest  for  the 

79 


8o         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

possession  of  the  northern  forests,  were  now  united 
under  the  name  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.^  The 
dream  of  Alexander  Mackenzie  had  been  reahzed. 
From  Montreal  to  Fort  George,  from  Fort  George  to 
the  Arctic  Ocean  and  Hudson  Bay,  the  wilderness 
traffic  was  at  last  organized  under  a  single  manage- 
ment, and  carried  on  absolutely  without  competition, 
except  where  the  British  came  in  contact  with  Ameri- 
cans or  Russians.  York  Factory  on  Hudson  Bay  was 
the  eastern  emporium,  and  the  residence  of  the  com- 
pany's governor.  Sir  George  Simpson.  The  station 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  was  to  be  the  western 
emporium. 

Dr.  McLoughlin  builds  Fort  Vancouver,  1824- 
1825.  In  1824  Dr.  John  McLoughlin,  accompanied  by 
Governor  Simpson,  arrived  on  the  Columbia  to  take 
charge  of  the  western  department.  One  of  their  first 
steps  was  to  abandon  Fort  George  and  to  establish  new 
headquarters  at  Point  Vancouver.^  Here  was  an  ideal 
location  for  a  trading  centre.  The  Willamette,  enter- 
ing the  Columbia  a  short  distance  below,  had  its 
sources  nearly  two  hundred  miles  to  the  south;  the 
Cowlitz  opened  an  avenue  for  trade  toward  Puget 
Sound ;  while  for  the  Columbia  itself,  breaking  through 
the  Cascades  a  few  miles  above  Vancouver,  the  site  was 

1  In  1816  actual  war  broke  out  in  the  Red  River  valley,  where 
Lord  Selkirk  had  established  a  colony  for  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  across  the  path  of  the  Northwesters.  The  union  was 
brought  about  by  the  intercession  of  government  officials. 

2  The  point  reached  and  so  named  by  Lieut.  Broughton  of  the 
Vancouver  Expedition  in  October,  1792. 


The  Hudson  Bay  Company  8 1 

the  best  that  could  be  found.  On  a  fine  prairie  about 
three  quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  river,  McLoughlin 
built  the  first  Fort  Vancouver,  and  occupied  it  in 
March,  1825.  Four  years  later  another  establishment 
was  built  on  the  low  ground  near  the  river  bank.  It 
was  simply  a  stockade  made  of  posts  about  twenty  feet 
in  length,  inclosing  a  rectangular  space  thirty-seven 
rods  long  by  eighteen  rods  in  width,  which  contained 
all  the  principal  buildings,  including  Dr.  McLoughlin's 
residence.  The  servants  of  the  company,  with  their 
Indian  families  and  friends,  lived  just  outside,  where 
in  course  of  time  a  considerable  village  grew  up.  Such 
was  the  famous  Fort  Vancouver,  round  which  clusters 
so  much  of  the  romance,  as  well  as  the  more  sober  his- 
tory, of  early  Oregon.^  Dr.  McLoughlin  remained  in 
charge  of  the  establishment  for  twenty-two  years,  man- 
aging the  company's  business  with  rare  success;  and 
by  his  firm  control  over  the  Indians  of  the  entire  Ore- 
gon country,  his  kindness  and  hospitality  to  American 
traders,  missionaries,  adventurers  and  colonists,  richly 
deserving  the  title,  "  Father  of  Oregon,"  bestowed  upon 
him  by  the  pioneers. 

The  fur  trade  at  Vancouver.  Vancouver  was  the 
clearing  house  for  all  the  business  west  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Here  the  annual  ships  from  London 
landed  supplies  and  merchandise,  which  were  placed  in 
warehouses  to  await  the  departure  of  the  boat  brigades 

lA  fascinating  picture  of  life  at  this  western  emporium  of 
the  fur  trade  is  given  by  Mrs.  Eva  Emery  Dye  in  her  "  Mc- 
Loughlin and  Old  Oregon." 


82         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

for  the  interior;  here  was  the  great  fur  house,  where 
the  peltries  were  brought  together  from  scores  of 
smaller  forts  and  trading  camps,  scattered  through  a 
wilderness  empire  of  half  a  million  square  miles. 
They  came  from  St.  James,  Langley,  and  Kamloops 
in  the  far  northwest ;  from  Umpqua  in  the  south  ;  from 
Walla  Walla,  Colville,  Spokane,  Okanogan,  and  many 
other  places  in  the  upper  portions  of  the  great  valley. 
Hundreds  of  trappers  followed  the  water  courses 
through  the  gloomy  forests  and  into  the  most  dangerous 
fastnesses  of  the  mountains,  in  order  to  glean  the 
annual  beaver  crop  for  delivery  to  these  substations. 

Profits  of  the  western  trade.  The  Hudson  Bay 
Company  is  still  engaged  in  business  and  the  books  of 
these  early  years  are  a  part  of  its  business  files.  They 
are  not,  and  have  never  been,  opened  freely  to  the  re- 
searches of  scholars.  Such  information  as  we  have 
respecting  the  profits  of  the  Company's  western  fur 
trade  has  leaked  out  almost  accidentally  and  we  are  still 
waiting  for  facts  which  the  Company's  records  alone 
can  fully  reveal.  In  a  letter  written  by  McLoughlin 
to  the  Company  in  1845  —  ^^^s  "Last  Letter"^ — 
Simpson  is  cjuoted  as  saying  that  the  accounts  from 
that  field,  which  show  the  profits  of  the  three  years, 
1841,  1842,  and  1843  to  be  £22,974,  £16,982,  and 
£21,726  respectively  are  not  accurate.  He,  in  fact, 
figures  for  those  years  a  net  loss  of  over  £5000,  which 
looks  on  its  face  unreasonable.     Wt  have  no  means  of 

1  Edited  by  Katherine  B.  Judson.     See  Am.  Historical  Review, 
XXI,  pp.  127. 


The  Hudson  Bay  Company  83 

checking  him.  Assuming  that  the  accounts  presented 
by  McLoughhn  were  correct,  the  net  annual  profit 
amounted  in  those  years  to  a  sum  ranging  from  $80,- 
000  to  $1 15,000.  In  1828  a  visitor  to  Vancouver,  the 
American  trader  Jedediah  Smith,  reported  that  Mc- 
Loughhn had  received  during  the  year  thirty  thousand 
beaver  skins  worth  $250,000,  besides  a  large  quantity 
of  other  furs. 

Agriculture.  Aside  from  the  fur  trade,  which  was 
the  principal  business,  Vancouver  was  also  the  centre 
of  other  activities.  By  1828  a  fine  farm  had  been 
opened  on  the  prairie  about  the  fort,  and  fields  of  wheat, 
oats,  corn,  peas,  and  barley  flourished  in  the  rich  soil  of 
this  favoured  locality.  As  the  years  passed,  more  and 
more  land  was  brought  under  cultivation,  until  the  farm 
aggregated  several  thousand  acres,  "  fenced  into  beau- 
tiful corn  fields,  vegetable  fields,  orchards,  gardens,  and 
pasture  fields,  .  .  .  interspersed  with  dairy  houses, 
shepherds'  and  herdsmen's  cottages."  ^ 

Livestock  at  Fort  Vancouver.  In  18 14  the  North- 
west Company's  ship  Isaac  Todd  brought  to  the  Colum- 
bia from  California  four  head  of  Spanish  cattle.  The 
Astor  people  had  brought  a  few  hogs  from  Hawaii  and 
they  also  had  several  goats.  These  were  the  beginnings 
of  the  livestock  interests  of  the  Pacific  Northwest.  The 
increase  up  to  the  time  Dr.  McLoughlin  took  control 
was  by  no  means  extraordinary,  the  cattle  numbering, 
according  to  McLoughlin,  only  twenty-seven  head  in 

^  Quoted  from  Dunn,  "  The  Oregon  Territory  and  the  British 
North  American  Fur  Trade,"  Philadelphia,  1845,  p.  107. 


84         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

1825.  McLoughlin,  however,  took  steps  at  once  to 
build  up  the  herds  and  the  flocks.  He  forbade  the 
slaughtering  of  cattle  ^  at  that  time  and  he  says  that  the 
first  beef  was  killed  in  1838.  By  that  time  the  native 
increase  had  brought  up  the  herd  to  several  hundred 
head  and  purchases  of  California  cattle  had  increased 
it  still  more.  Pigs,  sheep,  goats,  and  horses  likewise 
became  plentiful  on  the  Vancouver  ranges. 

McLoughlin,  while  refusing  to  sell  cattle,  cheerfully 
loaned  cows  and  oxen  to  the  settlers  and  he  also  fur- 
nished work  cattle  to  the  Missions. 

Grain  raising.  On  taking  possession  of  Vancouver 
fort,  planting  and  sowing  of  grain  became  at  once  a 
fixed  policy.  The  first  year  potatoes  and  peas  only 
were  grown.  The  second  year  McLoughlin  procured 
and  sowed  small  quantities  each  of  wheat,  corn,  oats, 
barley,  and  timothy,  all  crops  doing  well  except  the 
corn.  By  1828  he  says  the  quantity  of  wheat  raised 
was  sufficient  for  the  needs  of  the  establishment. 

French  farmers  in  Oregon;  American  wheat 
raisers.  In  1829  Etienne  Lucier,  a  servant  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  received  assistance  in  seed  and 
food  supplies,  cattle,  etc.,  to  begin  farming  in  the 
Willamette  Valley.  Other  servants  of  the  company 
followed,  until  by  1843  some  fifty  families  were  living 
on  French  Prairie  near  the  present  town  of  Woodburn, 
and  a  few  others  were  scattered  here  and  there  over 
the  valley  plain.  When  American  settlers  began  to 
arrive  they,  too,  were  helped  to  become  farmers  and 

1  Except  one  bull  calf  each  year  for  rennet  to  make  cheese. 


The  Hudson  Bay  Company  85 

wheat  raisers,  all  agreeing  to  return  the  loans  of  seed 
grain  in  wheat  and  usually  agreeing  to  sell  their  surplus 
to  the  Company  at  a  fixed  price. 

The  Fort  was  the  market  for  all.  The  Company 
maintained  a  flouring  mill,  where  settlers  could  have 
their  wheat  ground.  Beginning  in  the  year  1839,  it 
supplied  grain  and  flour  regularly,  under  contract,  to 
the  Russian  American  Fur  Company  in  Alaska.  It 
also  shipped  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  McLoughlin 
estimated  the  export  of  flour  for  1846  at  6,000  barrels, 
in  addition  to  a  cargo  of  wheat  for  Alaska. 

Lumber  and  other  exports;  merchandise.  Be- 
sides shipping  grain  and  flour,  the  company  sold  lumber 
sawed  in  their  mill  near  Vancouver,  also  salmon  taken 
in  the  lower  Columbia.  They  also  supplied  from  their 
store  at  Vancouver  and  a  branch  store  at  Willamette 
Falls  all  kinds  of  merchandise  and  other  supplies  re- 
quired by  their  servants,  ex-servants,  and  the  American 
settlers.  New  settlers  received  credit  usually  to  the 
extent  of  their  need  until  they  could  raise  a  crop  of 
wheat,  from  the  surplus  of  which  the  year's  accounts 
were  settled. 

Mechanics.  The  fort  had  its  mechanics,  represent- 
ing all  the  ordinary  trades.  There  were  besides  farm- 
ers, gardeners  and  dairymen,  smiths,  carpenters,  tin- 
ners, millwrights,  coopers,  and  a  baker,  and  all  were 
kept  fully  occupied.  The  carpenters  built  boats  for  the 
river  trade  and  even  several  coasting  vessels.  The 
coopers  made  barrels  for  shipping  flour  and  salted 
salmon. 


86         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Social  life  at  Vancouver.     Although  business  was 
the  first  consideration  at  V^ancouver,  and  Dr.  McLough- 
lin  would  tolerate  no  idlers,  yet,  on  the  whole,  life  was 
pleasant  there.     The  officers  were  nearly  all  well-edu- 
cated gentlemen,  who  enjoyed  good  living,  books,  and 
agreeable  company.     Their  dining  hall  at  Vancouver 
was  not  merely  a  place  where  the  tables  were  supplied 
with  good  food,  but  the  scene  of  bright,  intelligent  con- 
versation, conducted  wuth  perfect  propriety,  and  pleas- 
ing to  the  most  refined  guests.     The  wives  of  the  offi- 
cers were  usually  half-caste  women,  yet  in  many  cases 
they  are  said  to  have  been  excellent  housekeepers  and 
good  mothers.     They  and  their  children  did  not  eat 
with  the  men,  but  had  tables  in  a  separate  hall.     In 
other  respects  home  life  was  much  as  it  is  in  ordinary 
communities.     The  children  spent  most  of  the  summer 
season  out  of  doors,  engaging  in  all  manner  of  sports, 
and  gaining  special  skill  in  horsemanship.     In  the  win- 
ter a  school  was  often  maintained  at  the  fort.^     Re- 
ligious services  were  conducted  on  the  Sabbath,  either 
by  McLoughlln  himself  or  by  some  visiting  missionary 
or  priest.     The  village  had  its  balls,  regattas,  and  other 
amusements,  rendering  it  a  place  of  much  gaiety,  espe- 
cially about  June,  when  the  brigades  of  boats  arrived 
with  the  up-river  traders,  and  their  crews  of  jovial,  pic- 
turesque French  voyageurs. 

Monopoly  methods ;  relations  with  settlers.     The 

ijohn   Ball,   a  New  England  man   who  came  with   Wyeth  in 

1832,  taught  the  first  school  at  Vancouver  in  the  winter  of  1832- 

1833.  He  raised  a  crop  of  wheat  in  the  Willamette  valley  in  the 
summer  of  1833. 


The  Hudson  Bay  Company  87 

Hudson  Bay  Company  was  a  monopoly  not  only  in 
theory  but  in  practice.  It  fixed  its  own  prices  for 
goods  sold  to  settlers,  usually  charging  one  hundred 
per  cent,  on  London  prices/  and  it  paid  for  the  settlers' 
wheat  what  it  chose.  In  1845  the  price  was  sixty  cents 
per  bushel  in  trade.  In  both  cases  the  price  was  prob- 
ably as  nearly  fair  as  could  be  expected,  but  the  feeling 
that  they  were  at  the  Company's  mercy  was  sure  to 
make  the  American  settlers  impatient,  critical,  or  even 
violently  antagonistic  to  the  Company.  Had  it  not 
been  for  the  respect  universally  felt  for  Dr.  McLough- 
lin,  this  condition  might  easily  have  degenerated  into  a 
state  of  open  hostility,  with  the  possibility  of  bloodshed 
and  serious  international  complications.  In  fact,  only 
two  or  three  Americans  ever  tried  to  molest  the  Com- 
pany directly,  and  in  these  cases  the  public  opinion  of 
the  colony  was  exerted  successfully  in  the  interest  of 
harmony.  On  the  whole,  it  must  be  admitted  that  Fort 
Vancouver  was  indispensable  to  the  American  settlers, 
was  in  fact  the  condition  of  Oregon's  early  coloniza- 
tion. Without  it,  the  country  must  have  remained  a 
wilderness  until  similar  establishments  had  been 
founded  by  Americans  or  others.  If  Astor's  trading 
venture  had  proved  successful,  Astoria  would  logically 
have  occupied  the  place  in  Oregon  history  which  Van- 
couver now  occupies.  Yet,  it  is  doubtful  if  an  Ameri- 
can company  could  have  served  better  the  needs  of  such 
a  colony. 

1  Although   these  prices   were   reduced  when  competition  de- 
manded it. 


CHAPTER  VII 

EARLY    PHASES   OF    THE   OREGON    QUESTION 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  War  of  1812  the  Cokimbia 
River  region  might  have  passed  at  once  into  the  hands 
of  Mr.  Astor,  for  fur  trading  purposes,  had  it  not  been 
for  a  series  of  delays  which  gave  the  British  company 
opportunity  to  establish  itself  firmly. 

Astor  continues  to  be  interested  in  the  Columbia. 
Mr.  Astor  in  181 3  advised  the  government  concerning 
the  progress  of  his  business  on  the  Columbia  and 
pointed  out  that  if  the  government  had  granted  him 
military  support,  even  to  a  slight  extent,  Astoria  could 
have  been  held  against  a  British  attack  by  sea.  It  was 
doubtless  due  to  Mr.  Astor's  warnings  that  in  March, 
1 8 14,  the  government  Instructed  our  peace  commis- 
sioners to  keep  the  Columbia  fort  in  mind  when  dis- 
cussing the  terms  of  a  treaty  with  Great  Britain.  In 
case  that  place  had  been  captured  during  the  war,  and 
in  case  the  commissioners  could  agree  on  a  treaty  clause 
restoring  to  each  nation  places  and  possessions  taken  by 
either  party  during  the  war,  then  the  post  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Columbia  ought  to  be  restored.  Secretary  of 
State  Monroe  in  writing  the  instructions  expressed  the 
view  that  Britain  had  no  right  to  any  territory  what- 
ever on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  he  asserted  roundly: 

88 


Early  Phases  of  the  Oregon  Question       89 

**  On  no  pretext  can  the  British  Government  set  up  a 
claim  to  territory  south  of  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
United  States."  ^ 

While  the  commissioners  were  carrying  on  their  ne- 
gotiations at  Ghent,  a  gentleman  who  represented  Mr. 
Astor  was  at  hand  eager  to  learn  what  would  be  done 
and  finally  what  was  done  about  the  Columbia  River 
fort.  He  stated  that  if  its  restoration  was  agreed 
upon,  it  was  Mr,  Astor's  intention  to  reoccupy  it  at 
once  and  resume  the  trade.^ 

What  the  treaty  stipulated.  The  treaty  did  not 
mention  Astoria  specifically,  but  it  provided,  in  general 
terms,  that :  "  All  territory,  places,  and  possessions 
whatsoever,  taken  by  either  party  from  the  other  during 
the  war,  .  .  .  (should)  be  restored  without  delay.  .  .  ." 
Mr.  Astor  seems  to  have  thought  that  since  his  fort  on 
the  Columbia  had  been  taken  possession  of  by  a  British 
warship,  the  Northwest  Company  should  now  be  com- 
pelled to  give  it  up,  without  regard  to  the  fact  that, 
before  the  warship  arrived,  his  partners  had  accepted 
from  that  company  a  sum  of  money  in  payment  for  the 
fort  and  its  appurtenances. 

Restoration  of  Astoria  demanded.  In  July,  181 5, 
six  months  after  the  signing  of  the  treaty,  Monroe  as 
Secretary  of  State  gave  notice  to  the  British  govern- 

^Am.  State  Papers,  III,  731.  Monroe  was  especially  concerned 
for  the  safety  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  upper  Louisiana  territory, 
where  earlier  negotiations  had  failed  to  establish  a  definite  bound- 
ary between  American  and  British  territory.  He  probably  cared 
little  for  the  Columbia  region  for  its  own  sake. 

2  J.    Q.   Adams's   Memoirs,   XI. 


90         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

ment  that  the  United  States  expected  to  reoccupy  the 
Columbia  under  the  treaty,  but  two  years  elapsed  before 
any  definite  step  was  taken.  The  delay  may  have  been 
due  to  Mr.  Astor,  for  it  is  almost  certain  that  the  gov- 
ernment was  merely  trying  to  clear  the  way  for  his  re- 
occupation  of  Astoria.  But  in  September,  1817,  the 
ship  Ontario,  Captain  Biddle,  was  ordered  to  the 
Columbia  to  "  assert  the  claim  of  the  United  States  to 
the  (Columbia)  country  in  a  friendly  and  peaceable 
manner.  .  .  ." 

British  claims  stated.  When  the  British  minister 
at  Washington,  Mr.  Charles  Bagot,  learned  about  the 
orders  given  Captain  Biddle  he  protested  to  J.  Q. 
Adams,  Secretary  of  State.  Astoria  was  not  one  of 
the  "  places  and  possessions  "  referred  to  in  the  treaty, 
since  the  fort  had  been  purchased  by  British  subjects 
before  the  Raccoon  entered  the  river.  Nor  was  the 
Columbia  valley  "  territory  .  .  .  taken  .  .  .  during 
the  war  " ;  it  was  rather  a  region  "  early  taken  posses- 
sion of  in  His  iMajesty's  name,  and  considered  as 
forming  part  of  His  Majesty's  dominions."  ^  This 
was  the  formal  opening  of  the  Oregon  Question,  which 
required  nearly  a  generation  for  its  settlement,  and  at 
one  time  threatened  to  bring  on  a  war. 

The  Northwest  Company  interested.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  find  that,  just  as  the  American  government 
was  acting  in  these  matters  at  the  behest  of  Mr.  Astor, 

1  It  was  claimed  that  Lieutenant  Broughton  took  formal  pos- 
session of  the  Columbia  country  when  he  entered  the  river  in 
October,  1792. 


Early  Phases   of  the  Oregon  Question        91 

so  the  British  government  was  acting  under  the  impulse 
supplied  by  the  Northwest  Company.  That  govern- 
ment, indeed,  knew  nothing  about  the  situation  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia  except  what  it  learned  frOm  the 
Northwest  Company  partners,  especially  Simon  Mc- 
Gillivray,  who  resided  generally  in  London  and  had 
charge  of  the  outfitting  of  the  company's  ships.  It  was 
McGillivray  who  learned  in  some  way  to  us  unknown 
that  Captain  Biddle  of  the  Ontario  had  orders  to  sail 
to  the  Columbia  and  it  was  he  who  furnished  Mr.  Bagot 
that  exciting  piece  of  news;  he  also  furnished  Bagot 
the  history  of  the  British  claim  to  the  Columbia  on 
which  he  based  his  protest  to  Mr.  Adams. ^  We  glean 
from  McGillivray  that  the  Northwest  Company  had 
planned  in  1 810  to  take  possession  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  but  that  they  were  delayed  by  government  red 
tape  until  it  was  too  late  because  Astor  had  forestalled 
them.  When  the  war  broke  out,  however,  they  per- 
suaded the  admiralty  to  send  a  warship  to  the  Colum- 
bia to  capture  Astoria  while  the  company  sent  the  Isaac 
Todd  to  begin  their  establishment. 

Excitement  over  the  Ontario's  mission.  The 
sending  of  the  Ontario  created  a  decided  sensation. 
The  British  minister  wrote  in  some  alarm  to  his  govern- 
ment, and  for  the  moment  it  looked  as  if  a  serious  issue 
might  be  made  of  the  incident.     Lord  Castlereagh, 

1  McGilHvray's  "Statement  Relative  to  the  Columbia  River," 
etc.  was  found  with  Bagot's  dispatch  No.  74,  Public  Record  Of- 
fice, F.  O.  America  123.  The  McGillivray  statement  abounds  in 
errors,  but  it  was  all  that  Bagot  had  to  guide  his  course. 


92         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

however,  the  British  Foreign  Secretary,  found  reasons 
of  poHcy  for  conceding  the  right  of  the  United  States 
to  be  placed  in  possession  of  Astoria,  under  the  treaty 
of  Ghent,  although  he  refused  to  concede  the  American 
right  to  the  territory.  He  therefore  offered  to  restore 
the  post,  and  suggested  that  the  question  of  title  to  the 
territory,  together  with  other  differences  between  the 
two  countries,  be  submitted  to  arbitration. 

Astoria  formally  restored.  John  Quincy  Adams 
was  quick  to  accept  the  offer  of  the  restoration  of  As- 
toria, which  was  turned  over  by  the  Northwest  Com- 
pany to  Mr.  J.  B.  Prevost  on  the  6th  of  October,  1818. 
But  Mr.  Adams  refused  the  offer  of  arbitration,  believ- 
ing that  direct  negotiation  was  a  surer  way  of  gaining 
American  rights. 

The  joint  occupation  treaty.  Two  weeks  after  the 
formal  restoration  of  Astoria,  on  October  20,  1818, 
representatives  of  the  two  nations  signed  at  London  a 
treaty  in  which  the  Oregon  Question  was  mentioned  but 
not  settled.  The  questions  at  issue,  besides  the  Colum- 
bia territory  question,  were  the  rights  of  Great  Britain 
to  navigate  the  Mississippi,  and  the  northern  boundary 
of  Louisiana  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  crest 
of  the  Rockies.  Great  Britain  at  last  abandoned  her 
claim  to  the  Mississippi,  and  was  therefore  willing  to 
permit  the  boundary  to  be  extended  westward  on  the 
forty-ninth  parallel  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to 
the  Rockies.  But  she  refused  to  extend  that  line  of 
boundary  from  the  Rockies  to  the  sea,  as  the  United 
States  suggested,  which  would  have  settled  the  Oregon 


Early  Phases  of  the  Oregon  Question        93 

Question  at  one  stroke.  Instead  the  two  governments 
agreed  upon  a  clause  which  subjected  the  Oregon  coun- 
try to  a  "  joint-occupation  "  for  ten  years  by  citizens 
and  subjects  of  both  nations.  This  meant  simply  that 
Americans  and  Englishmen  had  equal  right  to  trade 
and  settle  in  any  part  of  the  country,  but  that  neither 
the  one  party  nor  the  other  could  have  absolute  control 
over  any  part  of  it  till  the  question  of  ownership,  or  of 
boundary,  was  settled. 

Cession  of  Spanish  rights  to  the  United  States. 
This  treaty  of  joint  occupation  also  professed  to  safe- 
guard the  rights  of  other  nations.  This  was  necessary, 
because  at  the  time  neither  Spain  nor  Russia  had 
formally  yielded  up  their  respective  claims  to  territory 
in  that  region.  But  it  so  happened  that  J.  Q.  Adams 
at  that  moment  was  engaged  in  negotiating  a  treaty 
with  Spain  concerning  Florida  and  he  made  use  of  his 
opportunity  to  gain  an  additional  basis  of  title  to  the 
Columbia  region.  It  had  been  proposed  that  Spain  and 
the  United  States  should  agree  on  boundaries  west  of 
the  Mississippi,  defining  the  Louisiana  purchase  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  In  connection  with  that  proposal, 
on  October  31,  18 18,  only  eleven  days  after  the  date  of 
the  treaty  with  Britain,  Adams  demanded  that  Spain 
agree  to  draw  a  boundary  line  also  from  the  Rocky 
Mountains  to  the  Pacific.  This  v^as  done,  the  forty- 
second  parallel  being  taken,  and  each  of  the  two  con- 
tracting nations  agreeing  to  abandon  to  the  other  all 
claims  and  pretensions  they  had  to  territory  north  and 
south  of  that  line  respectively. 


94        ^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Its  importance.  Adams  regarded  this  as  a  great 
diplomatic  triumph.^  No  doubt  it  had  a  certain  im- 
portance. In  the  negotiation  with  Britain  the  Ameri- 
can commissioners  were  somewhat  at  a  loss  to  produce 
satisfactory  arguments  in  support  of  their  claim  to  the 
coast  to  the  northward  of  the  Columbia,  however  easy 
it  was  to  maintain  a  claim  to  the  valley  of  the  river 
itself.  Gray  had  discovered  the  river,  Lewis  and 
Clark  explored  from  its  fountains  to  the  sea,  and  Mr. 
Astor  took  possession  at  its  mouth,  holding  the  terri- 
tory firmly  until  the  war  compelled  him  to  retire.  But 
all  of  this  gave  no  direct  claim  to  territory  outside  the 
Columbia  basin  and  we  were  asking  for  a  boundary 
along  the  forty-ninth  parallel  to  the  sea. 

The  new  American  argument.  After  the  treaty 
with  Spain  Americans  could  insist,  as  they  did,  that 
since  the  first  exploration  of  the  coast  line,  well  up  be- 
yond the  fiftieth  parallel,  had  been  made  by  Spain, 
whose  rights  we  now  held,  and  since  the  Columbia 
River,  discovered,  explored,  and  first  occupied  by  Amer- 
icans, had  some  of  its  sources  in  these  high  latitudes 
also,  we  were  not  merely  within  our  rights  in  demand- 
ing the  forty-ninth  parallel  boundary,  but  the  offer  of 
that  line  might  be  looked  upon  as  a  very  generous  con- 
cession to  Great  Britain. 

Settlement  with  Russia.  The  Russian  claim,  which 
was  based  originally  on  the  discoveries  of  Vitus  Bering 
and  Tchirikoff,  on  the  occupation  of  Alaska  by  Russian 
fur  traders,  and  on  a  grant  of  trade  and  settlement 

1  Adams's  Memoirs,  IV,  275. 


Early  Phases  of  the  Oregon  Question       95 

privileges  to  the  Russian  American  Fur  Company  char- 
tered in  1799,  was  hkewise  indefinite  and  had  at  times  a 
tendency  to  advance  in  a  menacing  manner.  However, 
soon  after  the  conclusion  of  the  Florida  treaty,  the 
American  government  began  negotiations  with  Russia 
and  after  some  delays,  in  1824,  a  treaty  of  limits  was 
secured.  By  this  instrument  it  was  agreed  that  Russian 
subjects  would  not  push  their  activities,  in  trade  and 
settlement,  below  the  line  of  the  parallel  of  fifty-four 
degrees  and  forty  minutes,  and  that  American  citizens 
should  not  operate  to  the  north  of  that  line.  The  next 
year  a  similar  agreement  was  entered  into  between 
Great  Britain  and  Russia,  the  boundary  between  the 
northern  territories  of  the  two  nations  being  fixed  at 
the  same  time.^ 

On  many  accounts  it  seems  most  unfortunate  that 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  failed  in  1818  to 
dispose  of  the  Oregon  Question  by  agreeing  on  the 
forty-ninth  parallel.  Had  they  done  so,  no  other  power 
would  have  entered  to  disturb  the  arrangement,  and  it 
would  have  saved  the  two  interested  nations  a  long  and 
acrimonious  contest.  Possibly  a  more  strenuous  atti- 
tude on  our  part  might  have  brought  about  a  satisfac- 
tory solution.  But  our  government  was  not  prepared 
to  act  with  vigour,  and  was  unwilling  also  to  risk  a 

1  It  was  the  treaty  of  1825  between  Russia  and  Great  Britain 
which  defined  the  boundary  of  Alaska  on  the  land  side,  as  it  is  to- 
day. Russia  held  the  great  peninsula  west  to  the  141st  meridian 
of  longitude,  and  a  coast  strip  thirty  miles  wide  extending  to  lati- 
tude S4°40". 


g6         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

failure  to  settle  the  Louisiana  boundary  for  the  sake  of 
its  claims  on  the  Columbia. 

Lack  of  interest  in  Oregon,  except  among  Astor's 
connections;  John  Floyd's  first  report  on  Oregon. 

The  truth  is,  that  in  1818  very  few  Americans  had  the 
slightest  interest  in  the  region  west  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains.    Bryant  wrote  of  it,  in  1817,  as, — 

"  The  continuous  woods 
Where  rolls  the  Oregon  and  hears  no  sound 
Save  his  own  dashings,"  ^ 

So  far  as  we  know,  those  who  had  been  directly  or  indi- 
rectly interested  in  the  Astor  enterprise  were  the  only 
agitators  for  the  adoption  of  an  Oregon  policy  by  the 
government.  Some  of  the  Astor  partners,  it  appears, 
were  in  touch  with  Representative  John  Floyd  of  Vir- 
ginia at  Washington.-  Possibly  their  accounts  of 
Oregon  aroused  his  interest  in  the  country  as  a  valuable 
future  possession  of  the  United  States.  At  all  events, 
on  the  20th  of  December,  1820,  Mr.  Floyd  brought  the 
question  forward  for  the  first  time  in  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States.  He  wished  "  to  inquire  into  the 
situation  of  the  settlements  on  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and 
the  expediency  of  occupying  the  Columbia  River." 
One  month  later,  Floyd,  at  the  head  of  a  committee  of 

1  Because  of  the  popularity  of  Bryant's  "  Thanatopsis "  in 
which  the  lines  occur,  the  name  Oregon  was  hronght  prominently 
before  the  public.  Bryant  doubtless  obtained  it  from  Carver's 
Travels. 

2  See  Bourne,  E.  G.  Aspects  of  Oregon  History  Previous  to 
1840.     Quarterly  of  the  Oregon  Historical  Society,  Vol.  IV,  p.  255. 


Early  Phases  of  the  Oregon  Question       97 

Congress,  made  a  report  on  the  subject  of  our  rights 
west  of  the  Rockies.^ 

The  first  congressional  debate  on  Oregon; 
Floyd's  speech.  It  was  many  months  before  Floyd 
was  able  to  get  a  hearing;  but  in  1822  he  brought  in 
another  bill  which  aroused  much  interest  in  Congress 
and  drew  the  attention  of  the  country  to  the  Oregon 
question.  In  the  debate  which  occurred  Floyd  took  the 
leading  part.  He  ,was  one  of  those  men  who  have  the 
power  of  looking  beyond  the  present,  and  seeing  in 
imagination  the  changes  likely  to  occur  in  future  years. 
Though  he  lived  in  Virginia,  Floyd  knew  what  was  go- 
ing on  beyond  the  mountains,  and  was  thrilled  by  the 
spectacle  of  America's  wonderful  growth,  which  he  be- 
lieved, rightly  or  wrongly,  to  be  due  largely  to  her  free 
system  of  government.  In  the  space  of  forty-three 
years,  he  said,  Virginia's  population  had  spread  west- 
ward more  than  a  thousand  miles.  He  evidently  be- 
lieved it  would  not  be  long  before  Americans  would 
reach  the  Rockies,  and  stand  ready  to  descend  into  the 
Oregon  country.  This  was  a  new  thought,  just  be- 
ginning to  take  hold  of  the  American  people,  and  as 
yet  quite  startling  to  most  men  who,  in  spite  of  what 

1  This  report,  which  is  reprinted  in  the  Quarterly  of  the  Ore- 
gon Historical  Society,  VIII,  51-75,  contains  the  first  general  dis- 
cussion of  Oregon  and  the  Oregon  Question  from  the  American 
point  of  view.  The  bill  for  the  creation  of  an  Oregon  Territory, 
which  followed,  fixed  the  name  Oregon  upon  the  country.  Many 
things  contained  in  the  report  cannot  be  accepted  as  impartial  his- 
tory, but  the  writer  was  more  concerned  with  the  future  than 
with  the  past,  and  it  certainly  held  the  prophecy  of  great  things. 


98         A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

had  already  been  done,  found  it  difficult  to  conceive 
of  the  American  population  expanding  till  it  should 
reach  the  Pacific.  But  he  only  hinted  at  these  things, 
knowing  very  well  that  most  members  of  Congress 
would  regard  predictions  of  this  kind  as  the  merest 
folly. 

Floyd's  argument.  Floyd's  main  argument  had  to 
do  with  the  importance  of  the  Columbia  River  to  Amer- 
ican commerce.  Our  people  ought  to  have  the  benefit 
of  the  fur  trade  now  going  to  British  subjects;  many 
whalers  from  New  England  annually  visited  the  Oregon- 
coast  and  needed  some  safe  port  in  which  to  refit  and 
take  supplies;  the  trade  with  China  would  be  greatly 
advanced  by  maintaining  a  colony  on  the  Pacific.  He 
tried  to  show  that  the  Missouri  and  Columbia  together 
would  form  a  good  highway  for  commerce  across  the 
continent,  and  that  the  entire  distance  between  St. 
Louis  and  Astoria  could  be  traversed  with  steamboat 
and  wagon  in  the  space  of  forty-four  days. 

Mr.  Bailies's  remarkable  predictions.  Other 
speakers  also  urged  the  commercial  importance  of  a 
fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia.  Mr.  Bailies  of 
Massachusetts  declared  that  in  all  probability  there 
would  one  day  be  a  canal  connecting  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  oceans,  which  would  be  an  added  reason  for 
maintaining  a  colony  on  the  Pacific.  Most  persons 
feared  that  Americans  going  to  this  distant  land  would 
separate  froni  us  and  set  up  a  government  for  them- 
selves; but  Mr.  Bailies  pointed  out  that  such  a  canal 
would  bind  them  closely  to  us.     Yet,  if  they  should 


Early  Phases  of  the  Oregon  Question       99 

form  an  independent  American  state  on  the  Pacific, 
even  this  would  be  better  than  to  have  that  region  pass 
into  the  hands  of  foreigners,  or  be  left  a  savage  wilder- 
ness. "  I  would  delight,"  said  the  speaker,  "  to  know 
that  in  this  desolate  spot,  where  the  prowling  cannibal 
now  lurks  in  the  forest,  hung  round  with  human  bones 
and  with  human  scalps,  the  temples  of  justice  and  the 
temples  of  God  were  reared,  and  man  made  sensible  of 
the  beneficent  intentions  of  his  creator."  The  country, 
he  said,  had  made  marvellous  progress  within  the  mem- 
ories of  living  men,  and  with  the  fervour  of  an  ancient 
prophet  he  continued :  "  Some  now  within  these  walls 
may,  before  they  die,  witness  scenes  more  wonderful 
than  these;  and  in  after  times  may  cherish  delightful 
recollections  of  this  day,  when  America,  almost  shrink- 
ing from  the  *  shadows  of  coming  events,'  first  placed 
her  feet  upon  untrodden  ground,  scarcely  daring  to 
anticipate  the  greatness  which  awaited  her." 

The  practical  man's  view  of  the  Oregon  question. 
To  show  how  the  hard-headed,  practical  men  compris- 
ing the  majority  in  Congress  treated  such  idealists  as 
Floyd  and  Bailies,  we  have  only  to  turn  to  the  opposi- 
tion speech  of  Mr.  Tracy  of  New  York.  He  declared 
that  there  was  no  real  demand  for  a  fort  and  colony  on 
the  Columbia.  No  one  had  shown  that  it  would  benefit 
commerce.  It  was  visionary  to  expect  an  overland 
commercial  connection  with  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Mili- 
tary posts  ought  not  to  be  used  to  draw  population  far 
away  into  the  wilderness,  but  merely  to  protect  the 
frontier.     Mr.  Tracy  had  received  accurate  informa- 


lOO      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

tion  about  the  territory  along  the  Columbia,  from  men 
who  had  visited  that  region,  and  was  sure  that  its  agri- 
cultural possibilities  had  been  greatly  overestimated. 
As  a  final  agrument,  he  declared  that  the  people  on  the 
Pacific  and  those  on  the  Atlantic  could  never  live  under 
the  same  government.  "  Nature,"  said  Mr.  Tracy, 
"  has  fixed  limits  for  our  nation ;  she  has  kindly  inter- 
posed as  our  western  barrier  mountains  almost  inac- 
cessible, whose  base  she  has  skirted  with  irreclaimable 
deserts  of  sand."  ^ 

Defeat  of  Floyd's  bill.  On  the  23d  of  January, 
1823,  after  a  long  and  vigorous  debate,  Floyd's  bill 
came  to  a  vote  in  the  House  of  Representatives  and 
was  defeated,  one  hundred  to  sixty-one.  The  time  had 
not  yet  come  for  an  American  colony  on  the  Pacific,  be- 
cause the  government  was  unwilling  to  plant  such  a 
settlement,  and  the  people  were  not  yet  thinking  of 
Oregon  as  a  "  pioneer's  land  of  promise."  Only  a  few 
men,  and  those  of  the  rarer  sort,  looked  forward  to  the 
occupation  of  the  Columbia  region  as  a  step  toward  the 
establishment  of  a  greater  America,  with  a  frontage  on 
the  Pacific  Ocean  similar  to  that  which  we  then  had 
upon  the  Atlantic. 

Strangely  enough  none  of  the  speakers  in  the  House 
seemed  to  suspect  that  we  might  not  have  a  right,  under 
the  treaty  of  joint  occupation,  to  plant  a  military  colony 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  or  that  Great  Britain 

1  From  the  time  of  Long's  exploring  expedition  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains  (1819),  the  western  portion  of  the  Great  Plains  was 
called  the  "  Great  American  Desert." 


Early  Phases  of  the  Oregon  Question      loi 

had  an  actual  claim  to  the  country  which  was  protected 
by  that  treaty.  Only  one  man  appeared  to  understand 
the  situation  clearly,  Senator  Benton  of  Missouri.  He 
believed  that  if  the  British  remained  in  sole  possession 
of  Oregon  till  1828,  the  year  that  the  treaty  of  joint 
occupation  was  to  expire,  they  would  remain  for  a  still 
longer  period ;  and  in  a  speech  in  the  Senate  he 
favoured  an  American  colony  on  the  Columbia  as  a 
means  of  maintaining  our  rights  in  the  country. 

Diplomatic  negotiations  resumed.  We  must  now 
turn  from  Congress  where  Oregon  bills  were  brought 
up  almost  every  session,  till  the  end  of  1827,  and  see 
what  was  being  done  for  Oregon  elsewhere.  In  1824, 
stimulated  by  the  agitation  in  Congress,  and  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  fact  that  other  matters  were  pressing  for 
settlement  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States, 
our  government  sought  a  new  diplomatic  negotiation 
on  the  Oregon  question. 

The  British  government  had  carefully  avoided  the 
question  since  1818.  The  reason  doubtless  was  that 
since  British  traders  were  in  monopolistic  control  of  the 
fur  trade  of  the  Columbia,  it  was  good  policy  to  leave 
the  boundary  question  in  abeyance  as  long  as  possible, 
for  so  long  as  Americans  failed  to  take  advantage 
of  their  rights  under  the  treaty  of  joint  occupa- 
tion the  British  claim  was  in  no  danger  of  becoming 
weaker. 

Basis  of  the  American  claim.  Mr.  Adams,  in  in- 
structing Richard  Rush,  American  minister  at  London, 
to  bring  up  the  Oregon  question,  described  the  Ameri- 


I02       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

can  claim  "  to  the  Columbia  river  and  the  interior  terri- 
tory washed  by  its  waters,"  as  resting  (i)  upon  Gray's 
discovery  and  naming  of  the  river;  (2)  Lewis  and 
Clark's  exploration ;  (3)  the  Astoria  settlement,  and  the 
restoration  of  Astoria  in  1818;  (4)  the  acquisition  of 
the  Spanish  title.  Spain,  he  held,  was  the  only  Euro- 
pean power  who  had  any  territorial  rights  on  the  north- 
west coast  prior  to  the  discovery  of  the  river  itself. 
The  river  was  supposed  to  rise  as  far  north  as  the  fifty- 
first  parallel,  giving  us  a  good  right  to  territory  up  to 
that  line.  But,  since  the  forty-ninth  parallel  had  been 
already  adopted  to  the  Rockies,  he  was  willing  to  ex- 
tend that  boundary  west  to  the  Pacific. 

Canning's  Oregon  policy.  At  the  time  of  the  ne- 
gotiation of  1824  the  brilliant  and  not  always  amiable 
George  Canning  was  British  foreign  secretary.  Can- 
ning disliked  Mr.  Adams  personally,  and  besides,  for 
reasons  of  policy,  he  was  in  no  mood  to  humour  him 
in  the  Oregon  matter.  Accordingly,  when  he  learned 
the  extent  of  the  American  claims,  Mr.  Canning  wrote 
the  famous  dispatch  of  May  31,  1824,  to  the  British 
commissioners,  which  established  the  British  Oregon 
policy  for  many  years  to  come  on  a  basis  that  made 
agreement  with  the  United  States  impossible.  Briefly 
stated,  that  policy  was  to  claim  ( i )  an  equal  right  with 
the  United  States  and  all  other  powers  to  make  use  of 
the  entire  territory  from  42°  to  54°4o'-  This  right 
was  based  on  the  fact  that  when  Spain  tried  to  exclude 
Britain  from  Nootka  Sound  in  1 789-1 790  Great  Brit- 
ain, at  the  risk  of  war,  compelled  Spain  to  recognize 


Early  Phases  of  the  Oregon  Question      103 

the  equal  right  of  her  subjects  to  trade  and  make  settle- 
ments in  any  part  of  the  country  north  of  California. 

(2)  A  willingness  to  agree  on  a  division  of  the  territory 
with  the  United  States,  then  the  only  power  aside  from 
Britain  which  had  real  interests  there,  on  "  the  joint 
principles  of  occupancy  and  reciprocal  convenience." 

(3)  Canning  repelled  the  idea  that  Britain  should  give 
up  the  portion  of  the  coast  line  containing  Nootka 
Sound,  since  that  place  was  the  subject  of  dispute  with 
Spain  which  led  to  the  Nootka  Convention  of  1790,  a 
great  victory  for  British  policy.  (4)  But  he  was  still 
more  determined  not  to  give  up  the  free  use  of  the 
Columbia,  "  the  only  navigable  communication, 
hitherto  ascertained  to  exist,  with  the  interior  of  that 
part  of  the  country.  The  entrance  to  this  river,"  he 
says,  "  was  surveyed  by  British  officers,  at  the  expense 
of  the  British  government,  many  years  before  any 
agents  of  the  American  government  had  visited  its 
shores,^  and  the  trading  posts  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  are  now  and  have  for  some  time  been  sta- 
tioned on  its  waters."  (5)  The  Americans,  Canning 
points  out,  are  claiming  under  a  French  title,  a  Spanish 
title,  and  an  American  title,  and  they  are  supplying  the 
deficiencies  of  each  one  of  these  titles  by  arguments 
drawn  from  the  others.  This  could  not  be  permitted. 
They  might  select  the  title  they  deemed  best,  and  stand 

1  Canning  did  not  recognize  Gray,  the  discoverer  of  the  river, 
as  an  agent  of  the  American  government,  so  Lewis  and  Clark 
would  be  the  first  of  those  agents,  arriving  thirteen  years  after 
Vancouver. 


104       ^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

upon  that,  but  must  not  attempt  to  use  all  three  at  the 
same  time. 

Results  of  the  negotiations  of   1824  and   1826. 

The  result  of  Canning's  attitude  was,  of  course,  the 
failure  of  the  negotiations  in  1824,  Two  years  later 
Gallatin,  our  ablest  and  best  known  diplomatist,  was 
sent  to  London  to  settle  this  question,  with  others.  But 
the  Canning  policy  stood  athwart  the  path  again  and 
all  the  argumentation  used,  much  of  it  able  and  vigor- 
ous, was  in  effect  a  mere  process  of  marking  time. 
Things  must  happen  to  change  the  general  situation  of 
the  two  countries  relative  to  Oregon  before  a  boundary 
could  be  fixed. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PIONEERS   OF   THE   PIONEERS 

The  West  about  1820.  In  1800  the  region  west  of 
the  Alleghenies  had  a  population  of  about  three  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  thousand.  Twenty  years  later, 
when  Mr.  Floyd  and  a  few  others  began  to  dream  about 
expansion  to  the  Pacific,  the  West  already  contained 
more  than  two  million  people,  nearly  one-tenth  of  whom 
(two  hundred  thousand)  were  living  beyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi. The  country  had  entered  upon  a  period  of 
marvellous  growth.  Many  thousands  of  emigrants 
were  crossing  the  mountains  each  year,  forests  were 
levelled  as  if  by  a  sort  of  magic,  and  a  single  season 
often  saw  great  stretches  of  wild  prairie  transformed 
into  fields  of  wheat  and  corn.  In  such  pioneer  states  as 
Indiana  and  Illinois  the  wild  game  was  rapidly  disap- 
pearing from  the  river  valleys  as  new  settlers  entered 
to  make  clearings  and  build  homes.  Many  of  the  rude 
hamlets  of  twenty  years  before  had  given  place  to  pro- 
gressive and  wealthy  towns,  thriving  upon  the  business 
of  the  growing  communities  about  them,  Louisville, 
Cincinnati,  New  Orleans,  and  St.  Louis  had  already  be- 
come places  of  note,  and  controlled  the  commerce  of 
the  West  much  as  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  and 
Baltimore  dominated  the  eastern  section  of  the  United 

105 


io6       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

States.  The  western  rivers  were  alive  with  noisy  little 
steamboats,  one  of  which  had  recently  ascended  the 
Missouri  to  the  mouth  of  Platte  River.^  Roads  were 
being  opened  everywhere,  and  the  Erie  Canal  was  under 
construction  from  the '-Hudson  River  to  Lake  Erie. 
The  frontier  of  settlement  was  in  the  western  part  of 
Missouri,  whence  a  trail  had  already  been  opened  to 
Santa  Fe,  while  others  led  far  into  the  great  plains 
toward  the  west  and  northwest. 

The  American  fur  trade  of  the  far  west.^  Beyond 
the  frontiers  the  trapper  hunted  the  beaver  streams, 
and  the  trader  carried  his  tempting  wares  to  the  Indian 
villages,  much  as  they  had  done  twenty,  fifty,  or  a  hun- 
dred years  before.  Yet  in  some  respects  great  changes 
had  occurred  in  the  western  fur  trade.  From  the  time 
of  Lewis  and  Clark's  return  and  the  opening  of  the 
Missouri  River  country,  American  traders  had  shown 
a  strong  disposition  to  organize  for  the  better  regulation 
of  the  business.  The  Missouri  Fur  Company,  founded 
in  1808  for  the  purpose  of  controlling  the  trade  of  the 
Missouri  River,  was  the  pioneer  of  such  associations  in 
the  United  States,  and  it  soon  made  St.  Louis  a  great 
fur-trading  centre.^     But,  while  reasonably  successful 

1  The  Western  Engineer,  employed  as  part  of  Long's  exploring 
equipment  in  1819. 

2  Under  the  above  title  Captain  H.  M.  Chittenden  has  recently 
given  us  a  remarkably  complete,  accurate,  and  interesting  history 
of  the  fur  trade  throughout  the  great  region  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. His  book,  which  cost  years  of  patient  research,  was  pub- 
lished in  1902  (3  vols.). 

3  Astor  tried  to  combine  with  this  company,  but  was  unable  to 
do  so. 


Pioneers  of  the  Pioneers  107 

elsewhere,  this  company  did  not  succeed  after  all  in 
gaining  commercial  possession  of  the  upper  Missouri, 
because  of  the  Blackfoot  Indians  who  were  persistently 
hostile.  In  1822  a  new  company  was  organized  at  St. 
Louis  by  General  William  H.  Ashley,  whose  plan  in  the 
beginning  was  to  establish  trading  posts  at  favourable 
points  on  the  upper  Missouri,  like  the  mouth  of  the 
Yellowstone,  and  keep  agents  in  the  country.  The 
Blackfeet,  however,  could  not  be  pacified,  and  this 
method  had  to  be  given  up.  Ashley  then  adopted  the 
policy  of  sending  bands  of  trappers  to  form  camps  in 
the  best  beaver  districts,  and  trap  out  the  streams  one 
after  another. 

American  trappers  cross  the  Rockies.  Under 
leaders  like  David  Jackson  and  William  L.  Sub- 
lette, these  parties  not  only  gathered  the  fur  har- 
vest of  some  of  the  Missouri  fields,  but  traversed  the 
country  for  great  distances  to  the  southwest,  far  into 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  Finally  they  entered  the  region 
tributary  to  the  Columbia,  and  came  into  competition 
with  the  traders  and  trappers  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company.^  It  was  the  clashing  of  skirmishers.  Be- 
hind the  one  party  was  a  powerful  commercial  organ- 

1  Several  instances  are  recorded  of  American  trapping  com- 
panies getting  the  advantage  of  British  parties  in  some  way  and 
securing  their  furs.  In  1825  General  Ashley  got  possession,  for  a 
trifling  sum,  of  about  seventy-five  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  Hud- 
son's Bay  furs.  We  do  not  know  exactly  how  these  peculiar  feats 
of  wilderness  commerce  were  performed,  though  it  is  pretty  cer- 
tain that  the  free  use  of  whisky  upon  opposition  trappers  was  one 
of  the  means  employed. 


io8       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

ization,  and  a  proud  but  distant  government  jealous  of 
their  legal  rights;  behind  the  other  was  a  rapidly  ex- 
panding nation,  whose  people  would  one  day  be  pre- 
pared to  follow  the  traders  across  the  Rockies,  and  plant 
American  colonies  on  the  coasts  of  the  South  Sea. 

Wanderings  of  Jedediah  S.  Smith.  In  1826  Gen- 
eral Ashley  turned  over  his  business  to  Jedediah  S. 
Smith,  David  Jackson,  and  William  L.  Sublette.  The 
first  of  these  (Smith)  immediately  set  out  from  their 
Rocky  Mountain  camp  and  with  a  few  men  crossed  the 
desert  and  mountains  to  California,  arriving  at  San 
Diego  in  October,  1826.  He  remained  in  the  country 
during  the  winter,  and  the  following  summer  returned 
to  Salt  Lake.  In  spite  of  severe  sufferings  on  his  first 
trip,  Smith  went  back  to  California  the  same  season, 
losing  most  of  his  men  at  the  hands  of  the  Mojave  In- 
dians. In  California  he  got  together  a  new  party,  and 
in  1828  crossed  the  mountains  northward  to  Oregon. 
On  the  Umpqua  River  his  company  was  attacked  by  the 
Indians  and  all  except  the  leader  and  three  others  were 
killed.  Smith  also  lost  his  entire  catch  of  furs,  his 
horses,  and  other  property,  so  that  when  he  arrived  at 
Fort  Vancouver  (August,  1828)  he  was  in  desperate 
straits.  Dr.  McLoughlin  received  him  kindly,  sup- 
plied all  his  needs,  and  even  sent  men  to  the  Umpqua  to 
recover  the  furs  stolen  by  the  savages.  Nearly  all  were 
secured,  and  these  McLoughlin  purchased  at  the  market 
price,  giving  the  American  trader  a  draft  on  London 
for  the  amount,  which  he  says  was  three  thousand  dol- 
lars.    From  Vancouver  Smith  went  up  the  Columbia 


Pioneers  of  the  Pioneers  109 

to  Clark's  Fork,  and  then  to  the  rendezvous  of  his  com- 
pany in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  having  gained  the  dis- 
tinction of  making  the  first  overland  trip  from  the 
United  States  into  California,  and  also  the  first  from 
California  to  Oregon. 

Wagons  cross  South  Pass;  Captain  Bonneville. 
The  next  spring  (1830)  Smith,  Jackson,  and  Sub- 
lette took  the  first  loaded  wagons  into  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains to  the  head  of  Wind  River,  having  driven  from 
the  Missouri  along  the  line  of  the  Platte  and  the  Sweet- 
water. The  partners  reported  that  they  could  easily 
have  crossed  the  mountains  by  way  of  South  Pass. 
The  discovery  of  this  natural  highway,  so  important  in 
the  history  of  the  entire  Pacific  coast,  must  be  credited 
to  Ashley's  trappers,  some  of  whom  first  made  use  of  it 
in  1823.  Three  years  later  a  mounted  cannon  was 
taken  to  Salt  Lake  by  this  route,  and  six  years  after 
that  loaded  wagons  crossed  over  for  the  first  time  to 
the  west  flowing  waters.  These  vehicles  belonged  to 
the  train  of  Captain  Bonneville,  a  Frenchman  in  the 
United  States  army,  who  turned  fur  trader  in  1832, 
hoping  to  gain  a  fortune  like  General  Ashley.  The 
story  of  his  romantic  marches  and  long  detours  through 
the  great  western  wilderness  has  been  charmingly  told 
by  Irving  in  his  "  Adventures  of  Captain  Bonneville." 
In  the  space  of  about  three  years  he  traversed  a  large 
portion  of  the  Snake  River  valley,  and  went  down  the 
Columbia  as  far  as  Fort  Walla  Walla.^     But  the  gal- 

^  A  few  of  his  men,  under  Joseph  Walker,  went  to  California 
in  183.3- 1834.     Some  of  them  remained  there  as  settlers. 


no      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

lant  captain  was  no  match  for  the  shrewd  American 
traders,  or  for  the  well-organized  British  company- 
controlling  the  Columbia  River  region,  and  therefore 
his  venture  turned  out  a  complete  failure. 

Wyeth's  trading  scheme ;  the  first  trip  to  Oregon. 
In  the  same  year  that  Bonneville  set  out  for  the 
West  an  enterprising  Bostonian,  Captain  Nathaniel  J. 
Wyeth,  also  entered  the  Oregon  country  for  the  pur- 
pose of  trade.  Wyeth  had  become  familiar  with  the 
writings  of  Hall  J.  Kelley  concerning  Oregon,^  and  in 
the  summer  of  1831  he  arranged  to  send  a  ship  around 
Cape  Horn  while  he,  with  a  party  of  landsmen,  was  to 
proceed  across  the  country  hoping  to  meet  the  vessel 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia.  A  company  of  Bos- 
ton merchants  furnished  the  vessel,  which  sailed  in 
the  fall  of  1 83 1.  Wyeth  gathered  a  small  party  of 
men,  formed  a  sort  of  "  Wild  West  "  camp  on  an 
island  in  Boston  Harbour,  greatly  to  the  astonishment 
of  most  people,  and  in  spring  was  ready  to  begin  the 
overland  march.  Knowing  that  the  trip  would  have 
to  be  made  partly  by  land  and  partly  by  water,  the  in- 
genious Yankee  invented  a  machine  which  could  be 
used  either  as  a  wagon  bed  or  a  boat.  This  the  Latin 
scholars  at  Harvard  College  named  the  "  Nat  Wyeth- 
ium."  He  found  it  less  useful  than  at  first  sup- 
posed and  left  it  at  St.  Louis.  At  that  place  Wyeth 
and  his  men  joined  a  party  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
Fur  Company  under  William  L.  Sublette,  with  whom 

1  Kelley  published  a  plan  for  the  colonization  of  Oregon,  and 
other  tracts. 


Pioneers  of  the  Pioneers  ill 

they  made  the  trip  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  by  means 
of  a  pack  train.  Here  some  of  the  men  turned  back 
discouraged,  so  that  the  last  portion  of  the  trip  was 
made  with  only  eleven  men.  This  little  party  reached 
Vancouver,  October  24,  1832.  The  ship  had  not  ar- 
rived, and  they  soon  learned  that  she  had  been 
wrecked  at  the  Society  Islands.  Wyeth  therefore  re- 
turned to  Boston  in  1833,  leaving  a  few  of  his  men, 
who  were  among  the  first  agricultural  settlers  of  Ore- 
gon. The  business  part  of  the  enterprise  had  failed 
completely. 

Wyeth's  second  expedition.  But  Wyeth  was 
plucky,  and  had  great  faith  in  the  prospects  for  a  prof- 
itable commercial  enterprise  in  the  Oregon  country. 
The  salmon  fishery  of  the  Columbia  was  a  possible 
source  of  great  wealth,  and  he  proposed  to  couple  fur 
trading  with  it.  He  therefore  induced  the  Boston 
partners  to  supply  another  ship,  the  May  Dacre,  which 
was  sent  down  the  coast  in  the  fall  of  1833.  Wyeth 
himself  made  the  trip  overland  once  more  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1834.  This  time  he  took  a  number  of  wagons 
from  St.  Louis,  with  goods  which  had  been  ordered 
by  the  Rocky  Mountain  Fur  Company.  When  the 
company  refused  to  receive  them,  Wyeth  selected  a 
place  near  the  junction  of  the  Snake  and  Portneuf 
rivers,  where  he  built  Fort  Hall  and  began  trading 
with  the  Indians  on  his  own  account  by  means  of  an 
agent  left  there.  He  then  passed  on  down  the  river, 
reaching  Vancouver  in  September.  Once  more  the 
energetic    captain    was    disappointed,    for    the    May 


112       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Dacre,  which  had  been  expected  to  reach  the  Columbia 
early  in  the  summer,  during  the  salmon  fishing  season, 
came  in  tardily  the  day  after  the  land  party  arrived. 
Nothing  could  then  be  done  about  fishing,  so  Wyeth 
sent  her  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  with  a  cargo  of  tim- 
ber, while  he  spent  the  winter  in  trapping  beaver  on 
the  streams  south  of  the  Columbia,  principally  the  Des 
Chutes.  By  the  middle  of  February  he  was  back  at 
Vancouver,  the  guest  of  McLoughlin.  His  trading 
plans  were  now  all  ruined.  Nothing  could  be  done 
with  the  fur  trade  in  opposition  to  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company.  His  trading  establishment  at  Fort  Hall 
did  not  prosper,  the  fisheries  and  other  commerce 
amounted  to  little.  Wyeth  lingered  in  the  country 
till  the  summer  of  1836,  when  he  returned  to  Boston 
and  soon  closed  out  his  business  in  Oregon.^ 

But  there  was  also  another  motive,  very  different 
from  the  motive  of  the  fur  trader,  which  was  drawing 
men  into  the  great  western  wilds  and  on  toward  the 
Pacific  Ocean.     This  was  the  desire  on  the  part  of 

1  Wyeth  kept  a  regular  journal,  which  has  been  preserved  in 
the  family  of  one  of  his  descendants.  This  manuscript  was  sent 
from  Massachusetts  to  Oregon  and  published  (1899),  together 
with  a  large  number  of  Wyeth's  letters,  under  the  editorial  direc- 
tion of  Professor  F.  G.  Young,  secretary  of  the  Oregon  Historical 
Society.  The  volume  forms  an  invaluable  source  for  the  study 
of  conditions  in  Oregon,  and  the  state  of  the  western  fur  trade, 
during  the  years  covered.  A  very  rare  book  on  the  first  part  of 
the  first  Wyeth  expedition  is  the  little  volume  by  John  B.  Wyeth, 
published  at  Boston  in  1833.  Only  a  few  copies  are  now  in  ex- 
istence. It  has  been  reprinted  under  the  editorship  of  Reuben 
Gold  Thwaites,  LL.D.  in  his  series  Early  Western  Travels. 


Pioneers  of  the  Pioneers  113 

many  good  men  to  do  something  for  the  improvement 
of  the  Indians.  There  was  nothing  new  in  this  any 
more  than  in  the  fur  trade ;  but  in  the  one  case  as  in 
the  other  the  period  we  have  now  reached  witnesses  a 
great  expansion  of  effort  and  a  marked  improvement 
in  organization. 

A  new  interest  in  Indian  missions.  The  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  at  first  had  taken  Httle  in- 
terest in  direct  plans  for  the  elevation  of  the  red  race. 
But  after  the  close  of  the  War  of  1812  which  had 
caused  a  violent  disturbance  and  dislocation  in  the  con- 
dition of  great  numbers  of  Indians  alike  in  the  North- 
west and  in  the  Southwest,  some  changes  were  wrought 
in  the  government's  policy.  Missionaries  had  long 
urged  the  expenditure  of  money  by  the  United  States 
for  the  civilizing  of  the  Indians.  A  bill  for  that  pur- 
pose finally  was  passed  which  appropriated  $10,000, 
and  it  was  provided  that  the  expenditure  of  these  funds 
should  be  made  through  the  several  missionary  soci- 
eties that  were  maintaining  workers  among  the  In- 
dians. 

Morse's  report  on  Indians.  The  sum  was  a  small 
one,  but  it  placed  the  work  of  the  missions  on  a  new 
basis,  and  it  stimulated  powerfully  the  missionary  ac- 
tivity. Reverend  Jedediah  Morse,  sent  out  on  a  mis- 
sionary survey  of  the  western  tribes  in  1820,  prepared 
an  elaborate  report,  printed  by  the  government,  in 
which  he  proposed  the  establishment  of  **  Education 
Families  "  among  the  more  promising  tribes.  By  this 
he  meant  that  several  workers  should  co-operate  in 


114       ^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

the  civilizing  of  the  Indians  —  for  example,  the  school 
teacher,  the  preacher,  the  Indian  agent,  the  farmer,  and 
the  blacksmith.  Such  a  group  of  workers  might  hope 
to  develop  among  the  Indians  new  tendencies  and 
habits  of  life  which  would  make  the  religious  teaching 
fruitful  instead  of  being,  as  was  too  often  the  case,  a 
scattering  of  wheat  seed  in  a  field  infested  with  tares. 
Morse  also  suggested  the  ultimate  creation  of  an  In- 
dian State  to  include  parts  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin, 
and  Minnesota.  Some  leaders,  like  the  famous  Bap- 
tist missionary,  Rev.  Isaac  McCoy,  had  already  intro- 
duced in  their  mission  fields  the  ideas  set  forth  by 
Morse,  and  with  the  government  funds  available  for 
the  payment  of  the  school  teacher,  who  was  often  the 
missionary  preacher  himself,  the  blacksmith  and  the 
farmer,  or  at  least  one  or  two  of  these,  much  more 
could  be  done  than  simple  religious  charity  could  hope 
to  undertake.  For,  as  yet,  the  bulk  of  even  the  Chris- 
tian people  of  America  were  averse  to  giving  their 
money  for  the  benefit  of  the  Indians,  so  sceptical  were 
they  of  the  Indians'  capability  of  improvement. 

The  removal  policy;  eastern  Indians  sent  west- 
ward. Coupled  with  the  new  government  policy  of 
aiding  in  civilizing  the  Indians,  was  the  policy  of  re- 
moving the  tribes  which  had  dwelt  in  districts  east  of 
the  Mississippi  to  the  "  illimitable  "  regions  west  of 
that  river.  This  plan  was  adopted  mainly  because 
white  people  were  anxious  to  get  control  of  Indian 
lands  for  new  settlements.  But  many  missionaries 
favoured  the  removal  policy  on  other  grounds:  they 


Pioneers  of  the  Pioneers  1 15 

believed  that  Indians  could  never  be  civilized  if  they 
lived  in  close  proximity  to  whites,  because  the  degrad- 
ing influences,  especially  the  sale  to  Indians  of  strong 
drink,  which  resulted  from  such  proximity,  would  more 
than  offset  all  that  preachers,  teachers,  and  others 
could  do  for  them. 

The  practical  carrying  out  of  the  removal  policy 
caused  great  distress  among  the  Indians,  as  may  be 
supposed,  and  it  likewise  produced  a  mighty  wave  of 
sympathy  for  the  red  men.  The  newspapers  recited 
their  sufferings,  and  quoted  the  pathetic  speeches  of 
Indian  chiefs,  forced  to  leave  "  the  land  of  their 
fathers,  where  the  Indian  fires  were  going  out."  Mis- 
sionaries followed,  without  hesitation,  to  the  strange 
lands  where  "  new  fires  were  lighting  in  the  West,"  and 
soon  a  considerable  number  of  devoted  men  were  at 
work  among  the  tribes  living  between  the  Mississippi 
and  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Some  were  labouring 
among  peoples  they  had  known  east  of  the  river ;  some 
sought  out  new  fields  on  the  Missouri,  the  Kansas,  the 
Platte,  and  other  streams,  where  they  preached,  taught 
the  Indian  children  to  read,  and  often  induced  the  na- 
tives to  till  the  soil  and  live  in  permanent  houses,  in- 
stead of  wandering  about  in  pursuit  of  game.  Some- 
times the  government  employed  the  missionaries  as 
teachers  or  Indian  agents,  and  often  assisted  them  by 
providing  a  blacksmith  to  make  tools  and  farming  im- 
plements. 

The  Indian  delegation  to  St.  Louis.  Since  these 
things  were  going  on  in  many  places  throughout  the 


Ii6       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

West,  and  since  a  few  persons  like  Hall  J.  Kelley  had 
already  been  writing  about  the  Oregon  Indians  in  con- 
nection with  plans  for  settling  that  country,  it  is  not 
strange,  but  perfectly  natural,  that  men  should  at  last 
undertake  to  Christianize  the  tribes  living  on  the 
Pacific  coast.  An  incident  which  occurred  probably 
in  1 83 1  was  sufficient  to  start  the  first  missionaries 
across  the  mountains.  As  the  story  goes,  the  nations 
of  the  upper  Columbia  had  learned  from  British  trad- 
ers something  about  the  white  man's  religion.  Wish- 
ing to  know  more,  the  Nez  Perces,  or  Nez  Perces  and 
Flatheads,  sent  four  of  their  leading  men  to  St.  Louis 
to  see  General  Clark,  whom  old  men  remembered  as 
having  once  visited  their  country,  either  to  inquire 
about  "  The  Book  of  Heaven,"  as  the  Protestants 
maintain,  or  to  ask  for  priests,  as  the  Catholics  say. 
These  Indians,  setting  out  on  their  strange  and  inter- 
esting mission,  crossed  the  mountains  and  the  plains  in 
safety  and  reached  St.  Louis,  where  they  were  kindly 
received  by  General  Clark.  Two  of  them  died  while 
in  the  city.  The  remaining  two  started  for  their  own 
country  in  spring,  but  one  died  before  reaching  the 
mountains. 

Beginnings  of  the  Willamette  mission.  The 
story  of  these  four  Indians,  and  their  long  journey  to 
the  East  in  search  of  spiritual  guidance,  was  soon  pub- 
lished in  the  religious  papers  and  created  the  keenest 
interest.  First  to  respond  to  the  call  for  teachers  was 
the  Methodist  denomination,  which  in  1833  commis- 
sioned Rev,  Jason  Lee  to  begin  work  among  the  Flat- 


Pioneers  of  the  Pioneers  117 

heads. ^  Learning  of  Wyeth's  plan  to  return  to  Ore- 
gon in  the  spring,  Lee  arranged  to  have  all  the  provi- 
sions and  equipments  for  the  new  mission  taken  to  the 
Columbia  in  the  May  Dacre,  while  he  and  his  nephew, 
Daniel  Lee,  and  three  laymen,  Cyrus  Shepard,  P.  L. 
Edwards,  and  C.  M.  Walker,  joined  Wyeth's  overland 
party  and  made  their  way  to  the  Columbia.  They  de- 
cided, for  various  reasons,  to  let  the  Flatheads  wait 
and  to  begin  work  among  the  Indians  on  the  Willa- 
mette. All  went  down  to  Vancouver,  arriving  in  the 
month  of  September,  1834.  When  the  May  Dacre 
came  in  with  their  supplies,  the  missionaries  explored 
the  country  for  a  suitable  site.  "  On  the  east  side  of 
the  river  [Willamette],  and  sixty  miles  from  its  mouth, 
a  location  was  chosen  to  begin  a  mission.  Here  was 
a  broad,  rich  bottom,  many  miles  in  length,  well 
watered  and  supplied  with  timber,  oak,  fir,  cotton- 
wood,  white  maple,  and  white  oak,  scattered  along  its 
grassy  plains."  ^  They  immediately  began  preparing 
materials  for  a  house  and  when  the  rains  of  winter 
came  had  a  respectable  shelter.  At  the  same  time 
land  was  fenced  for  cropping,  a  barn  built,  and  other 
improvements  made;  so  that  the  establishment  took  on 
the  appearance  of  a  prosperous  woodland  farm. 
The  first  Oregon  colony.     The  missionaries  were 

iThe  Indians  who  went  to  St.  Louis  were  often  spoken  of  as 
Flatheads  but  there  is  evidence  that  some  of  the  delegates  were 
in  reality  Nez  Perces. 

2  Lee  and  Frost's  "  The  First  Ten  Years  of  Oregon,"  reprinted 
by  the  Oregonian,  Sunday  edition,  October  11  to  January  10, 
1903- 1904. 


Ii8       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

not  the  only  settlers  in  the  Willamette  valley.  On  ar- 
riving there  they  found  about  a  dozen  white  men  al- 
ready occupying  little  farms,  scattered  along  the  river, 
where  they  lived  in  log  cabins  with  Indian  wives  and 
families  of  children.  ]\Iost  of  them  were  former 
servants  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  who  had  either 
become  unfit  to  range  the  forest,  or  preferred  to  settle 
down  to  cultivate  the  soil  and  live  a  quiet  life.  Dr. 
McLoughlin  furnished  them  stock  and  provisions, 
as  he  did  the  men  left  in  the  country  by  Wyeth,  re- 
ceiving his  pay  in  wheat  w^hen  the  crops  were  har- 
vested, and  in  young  stock  to  take  the  place  of  full- 
grown  animals  which  he  supplied.  Here  was  the 
beginning  of  the  first  agricultural  colony  in  Oregon, 
and  it  was  this  mixed  community  into  which  the  mis- 
sionaries now  came  as  a  new  influence,  tending  to 
bring  about  better  social  conditions. 

Progress  of  the  mission.  From  the  first,  the  mis- 
sionaries were  more  successful  in  their  efforts  among 
the  neighbouring  settlers  than  with  the  surrounding 
Indians.  They  opened  a  school,  maintained  religious 
services,  and  soon  organized  a  temperance  society 
which,  partly  through  Dr.  McLoughlin's  influence, 
many  of  the  white  men  joined.  The  Indian  children 
were  admitted  to  their  school,  and  some  of  them  made 
fair  progress  in  learning.  Orphans  were  adopted 
into  the  mission  family  from  time  to  time,  receiving 
in  this  way  greater  benefits  from  their  contact  with 
civilization.  In  1837  the  mission  was  reinforced  by 
the  arrival  of  twenty  assistants  sent  from  the  East  in 


Pioneers  of  the  Pioneers  119 

two  vessels.*  New  efforts  were  now  made  to  Chris- 
tianize the  Indians  of  the  Willamette,  and  the  follow- 
ing year  a  branch  mission  was  begun  at  the  Dalles  of 
the  Columbia.  This  became  an  important  station ;  but 
the  work  in  the  valley  did  not  flourish,  for  the  natives 
were  a  sickly,  degraded  race,  almost  beyond  the  reach 
of  aid,  and  were  rapidly  dying  off. 

Parker's  tour.  Let  us  now  see  what  was  going 
on  in  other  portions  of  the  Oregon  country.  The 
story  of  the  Nez  Perces  delegation  to  St.  Louis  had 
affected  other  denominations  as  well  as  the  Methodists, 
and  in  1835  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions  sent  out  Dr.  Samuel  Parker  to  in- 
quire into  the  prospects  for  missionary  work  among 
the  Oregon  Indians.  Mr.  Parker  was  accompanied 
by  a  pious  young  ph3^sician.  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman. 
Together  they  made  the  overland  trip  from  Liberty, 
Missouri,  with  a  party  of  Rocky  Mountain  trappers. 
Arriving  at  Pierre's  Hole,  they  found  Indians  of  sev- 
eral Columbia  River  tribes,  who  all  seemed  anxious  to 
have  missionaries  settle  among  them.  Thinking, 
therefore,  that  the  main  point  was  now  gained,  Dr. 

1  The  first  party  arrived  in  May,  and  contained  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Elijah  White,  with  two  children;  Mr.  Alanson  Beers,  his  wife 
and  three  children ;  three  young  women,  Miss  Pitman,  who  was 
soon  married  to  Rev.  Jason  Lee  and  who  died  the  following  year, 
Miss  Susan  Downing,  who  married  Mr.  Shepard,  and  Miss  El- 
vira Johnson ;  and  one  unmarried  man,  Mr.  W.  H.  Wilson.  The 
second  company,  arriving  in  September,  consisted  of  seven  per- 
sons: Rev.  David  Leslie,  wife  and  tlirec  children,  Miss  Margaret 
J.  Smith,  and  Mr.  H.  K.  W.  Perkins. 


120      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Whitman  returned  to  the  East  to  bring  out  assistants 
and  supplies  to  begin  one  or  more  missions.  Dr. 
Parker  went  on,  under  Indian  guidance,  to  the  Colum- 
bia, arriving  at  Fort  Vancouver  on  the  i6th  of  Octo- 
ber. Here  he  spent  the  winter  as  the  guest  of  Dr. 
McLoughlin,  and  when  spring  came  set  out  for  the 
upper  country.  He  stopped  at  Fort  Walla  Walla, 
where  he  preached  to  a  multitude  of  Indians.  Then 
journeying  up  the  valley  of  Walla  Walla  River  he 
observed,  some  twenty  miles  from  the  Columbia,  "  a 
delightful  situation  for  a  missionary  establishment.  .  .  . 
A  mission  located  on  this  fertile  field,"  he  says, 
"  would  draw  around  [it]  an  interesting  settlement, 
who  would  fix  down  to  cultivate  the  soil  and  to  be  in- 
structed. How  easily  might  the  plough  go  through 
these  vallies,  and  what  rich  and  abundant  harvests 
might  be  gathered  by  the  hand  of  industry."  From 
this  place  he  went  up  the  Snake  River,  where  he  seems 
to  have  fixed  upon  another  site  for  a  mission,  and 
then  struck  off  northward,  exploring  the  beautiful  val- 
ley of  Spokane  River.  Here,  too,  were  many  Indians, 
who  appeared  to  be  anxious  for  religious  instruction. 
Later  in  the  year  (1836)  Dr.  Parker  sailed  from  Van- 
couver for  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  whence  he  returned 
to  the  Atlantic  coast  by  way  of  Cape  Horn,  reaching 
his  home  at  Ithaca,  New  York,  in  May,  1837,  after  an 
absence  of  more  than  two  years. ^ 

1  The  following  year  Dr.  Parker  published  at  Ithaca,  N.  Y., 
his  interesting  little  book  called  "An  Exploring  Tour  Beyond 
the  Rocky  Mountains." 


Pioneers  of  the  Pioneers  121 

The  Whitman  party  of  missionaries ;  first  women 
to  go  overland  to  Oregon.  When  Dr.  Whitman  re- 
turned to  New  York  in  the  fall  of  1835,  with  a  report 
that  the  Columbia  River  Indians  were  eager  for  teach- 
ers, the  board  at  once  commissioned  him  to  superin- 
tend the  planting  of  a  mission  in  that  country.  He 
had  some  trouble  to  find  helpers,  but  at  last  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  H.  H.  Spalding  consented  to  go  with  Whitman 
and  his  newly  married  wife.  Mr.  W.  H.  Gray 
also  joined  the  party.  These  two  women  proved 
their  exceptional  courage  by  undertaking  the  over- 
land trip,  which  thus  far  had  been  accomplished 
by  none  but  men.  At  Liberty,  Missouri,  the  mission- 
aries joined  a  company  of  fur  traders,  and  travelled 
with  them  to  the  mountains.  In  addition  to  saddle 
horses  and  pack  animals.  Whitman  had  provided  his 
party  with  a  one-horse  wagon.  At  that  time  there 
was  no  road  beyond  Fort  Hall,  but  on  account  of  Mrs. 
Spalding's  feeble  health,  which  made  it  impossible  for 
her  to  keep  the  saddle,  he  drove  this  vehicle  as  far  as 
Fort  Boise  on  Snake  River,  thus  opening  a  new  stage 
in  the  wagon  road  to  the  Columbia. 

Beginnings  of  the  interior  missions.  Arriving  at 
Fort  Vancouver  in  September,  the  women  were  left 
under  the  protection  of  Dr.  McLoughlin's  family, 
while  the  men  went  up  the  river  to  begin  the  missions. 
On  the  Walla  Walla  River,  about  twenty  miles  above 
the  fort,  was  a  place  which  the  Indians  called 
Waiilatpu,  where  the  first  establishment  was  begun. 
In  this  prairie  country  timber  was  very  scarce,  and 


122       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

therefore  the  missionaries  built  their  house  of 
"  adobes,"  large  brick  made  of  clay  and  baked  by  ex- 
posure in  the  sun.^  This  finished,  the  second  station 
was  begun  on  the  Clearwater,  at  its  junction  with  the 
Lapwai,  a  short  distance  below  the  point  where  Lewis 
and  Clark,  in  1805,  reached  the  navigable  waters  of  the 
Columbia.  The  place  was  in  the  midst  of  the  Nez 
Perces  country,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
east  of  Waiilatpu.  Mr.  and  Airs.  Spalding  took  up 
their  abode  here  while  the  Whitmans  remained  at  the 
Walla  Walla  station. 

Expansion  of  the  work;  Spokane  mission.  The 
Indians  of  this  country  were  far  superior  in  every  way 
to  those  of  western  Oregon.  They  were  wanderers 
during  a  good  share  of  the  year,  but  the  winters  were 
usually  spent  in  fixed  places,  where  they  could  be 
reached  with  ease.  It  was  not  long  before  many  of 
them  became  interested  in  the  schools  established  at 
both  missions  for  their  benefit,  and  after  a  time  some 
were  taken  into  the  church.  Special  efforts  were  made 
to  teach  them  to  depend  more  upon  agriculture  and 
less  upon  hunting,  fishing,  and  the  search  for  camas 
roots.  It  was  easy  to  cultivate  the  soil  in  this  region, 
as  Dr.  Parker  foresaw,  so  that  the  Indians  were  soon 
raising  little  fields  of  corn  and  patches  of  potatoes, 
which  added  much  to  their  comfort  and  well-being. 
In  the  spring  of  1837  Whitman  planted  twelve  acres 

1  These  particular  brick  were  twenty  inches  long,  ten  inches 
wide,  and  four  inches  thick,  as  Dr.  Whitman  wrote  to  a  fellow- 
missionary  on  Platte  River. 


Pioneers  of  the  Pioneers  123 

of  corn  and  one  acre  of  potatoes,  besides  peas  and  bar- 
ley. A  few  cattle  were  early  procured  from  the  East, 
and  these  multiplying  rapidly,  and  being  added  to  from 
time  to  time,  soon  developed  into  considerable  herds, 
of  which  the  Indians  secured  a  share.  In  the  fall  of 
1838  a  small  party  came  from  the  East  overland  to 
reinforce  the  up-river  missions.  It  consisted  of  Rev. 
Gushing  Eells  and  wife,  Rev.  Elkanah  Walker  and 
wife,  Rev.  A.  B.  Smith  and  wife,  Mr.  W.  H.  Gray  and 
wife,  and  Mr.  G.  Rogers.^  Now  it  was  determined  to 
occupy  the  northernmost  of  the  three  mission  fields 
selected  by  Dr.  Parker,  the  Spokane  country,  where 
the  families  of  Walker  and  Eells  established  them- 
selves in  the  spring  of  1839.^ 

Life  at  the  interior  missions.  Thus  some  of  the 
tribes  of  the  interior  country  were  at  last  brought  un- 
der the  influence  of  a  few  men  and  women  wholly 
devoted  to  their  welfare,  and  tmderstanding  with  a 
fair  degree  of  clearness  how  to  guide  these  barbarians 
along  the  path  of  civilization.  The  task  was  stupen- 
dous; but  the  missionaries  believed  it  was  not  impos- 
sible, and  laboured  with  exemplary  courage.  They 
preached  to  the  natives  as  regularly  as  possible,  gath- 
ered the  children  and  their  elders  in  the  schools,  trans- 
lated portions  of  the  Bible  into  the  Indian  language 

1  Gray,  who  came  to  the  Cohimbia  in  1836  with  Whitman  and 
Spalding,  had  gone  back  to  secure  help,  and  was  married  before 
returning. 

2  This  place  was  known  as  Tsimakane.  For  a  short  time  a 
station  was  also  occupied  at  Kamiah,  on  Snake  River. 


124      ^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

and  printed  them  on  a  little  press,  the  gift  of  the 
Hawaiian  missionaries;  they  helped  the  Indians  build 
houses  for  themselves,  showed  them  how  to  till  their 
fields  and  lead  water  upon  the  growing  crops;  they 
erected  rude  mills  to  grind  their  corn  and  wheat. 

Coming  of  the  Catholics.  The  earliest  missions 
were  founded,  as  we  saw,  by  the  Methodist  society, 
and  the  next  group  by  the  American  Board,  both  of 
those  religious  groups  having  been  influenced  by  the 
story  of  the  Flathead,  or  Nez  Perces,  or  mixed  delega- 
tion to  St.  Louis  in  1831  in  search  of  religious  guid- 
ance. Yet,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  those  In- 
dians, who  in  their  country  had  received  the  religious 
impulse  which  aroused  their  astonishing  zeal,  or  curi- 
osity, as  one  may  view  it,  from  Iroquois  Indians  Chris- 
tianized in  the  Red  River  settlement,  were  really  asking 
for  black-robed  priests  like  those  of  whom  the  Iro- 
quois told  them.  If  so,  they  were  momentarily  dis- 
appointed, but  their  people  persisted  and  ultimately  the 
"  black  robes "  came  to  them.  However,  the  first 
Catholic  missionaries  came  to  western  Oregon,  not  to 
the  land  of  the  Flatheads  or  Nez  Perces.  It  was  in  the 
year  1838  that  Father  Blanchet  of  the  Montreal  diocese 
and  Father  Demers  of  Red  River  began  their  labours 
among  Catholic  settlers  and  Indians  under  the  protec- 
tion and  with  the  active  support  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company. 

The  Catholic  missions.  The  first  mission  was  es- 
ta1:)lished  on  the  Cowlitz.  Afterwards,  St.  Paul  on  the 
Willamette  became  the  mission  capital  and  the  resi- 


Pioneers  of  the  Pioneers  125 

dence  of  Father  Blanchet,  Vicar  General  and  finally 
Bishop.  Though  the  Catholic  settlers  on  the  Cowlitz 
and  the  Willamette  were  the  first  care  of  the  two 
fathers,  they  travelled  widely  in  the  Oregon  country 
and  carried  their  teachings  to  various  Indian  tribes, 
among  them  the  Walla  Walla  and  Cayuse  Indians  liv- 
ing near  the  Whitman  Mission. 

The  Catholic  ladder.  Father  Blanchet  invented, 
for  this  work  among  the  red  men,  the  famous  "  Cath- 
olic Ladder,"  a  pictorial  representation  of  world  his- 
tory from  the  standpoint  of  Christianity.  This  device 
was  very  effective  in  its  appeal  to  the  primitive  mind, 
and  it  was  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  marked  success 
of  the  Catholic  teachers  as  contrasted  with  that  of  their 
Protestant  rivals.  In  the  end,  the  Protestants  were 
induced  to  use  a  **  ladder  "  also,  the  invention  of  Mrs. 
Spalding,  wife  of  Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding,  one  of  the 
Whitman  missionaries. 

Father  DeSmet.  The  most  noteworthy  of  the 
Catholic  missionaries  in  Oregon,  during  the  early 
period,  was  the  Jesuit  Father  DeSmet  of  St.  Louis. 
DeSmet  made  his  first  journey  west  of  the  Rockies  in 
1840,  answering  what  is  said  to  have  been  the  third 
appeal  of  the  Flathead  Indians  who  in  1839  sent 
Ignace,  a  Christian  Iroquois  who  lived  among  them, 
to  St.  Louis  to  ask  for  a  missionary.  The  work  of 
DeSmet  during  several  successive  journeys  covered 
the  northeastern  portion  of  the  old  Oregon  country 
and  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  such  permanently 
important  missions  as  those  in  the  Bitter  Root  valley 


126       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

and  at  Coeur  d'Alene.  But  others  who  followed  and 
supported  him  carried  the  work  throughout  most  of  the 
interior  country. 

Religious  rivalries.  Two  widely  variant  types  of 
Christianity  were  thus  presented  to  the  Indians  of  the 
Northwest  by  men  who  in  each  case  conceived  his  own 
form  to  be  the  only  means  of  salvation.  It  is  not 
strange  that  the  Indians  were  puzzled,  or  that  vengeful 
feelings  should  occasionally  cause  those  of  one  faith 
to  injure  the  teachers  of  the  other.  So  general  was  the 
impression  of  hostility  among  the  rival  groups  of  re- 
ligionists that  when  the  Whitman  massacre  occurred, 
in  November,  1847,  the  adherents  of  the  Protestant 
cause  were  impelled  to  lay  the  blame  for  the  awful 
crime  upon  the  Catholics  who,  they  believed,  had  in- 
cited the  Indians  to  murder  the  Protestant  missionaries. 
This  charge,  in  support  of  which  no  real  evidence  has 
ever  been  produced,  springs  naturally  out  of  the  re- 
ligious rancour  of  the  time. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   COLONIZING    MOVEMENT 

Ten  years  of  official  inactivity,  1827-1837.     The 

United  States  government,  in  all  its  departments, 
dropped  the  Oregon  question  when  Gallatin  secured 
the  second  treaty  of  joint  occupation.  For  nearly  ten 
years  after  that  date  neither  Congress  nor  the  executive 
made  any  move  of  importance  toward  settling  the  dis- 
pute with  England,  or  assisting  American  citizens  to 
gain  a  foothold  within  the  Oregon  country.  Yet  this 
period,  1 827-1 837,  is  of  great  importance  in  the  his- 
tory of  Oregon  because  of  the  doings  of  the  first 
pioneers  as  described  in  the  preceding  chapter.  Trap- 
pers, traders,  and  missionaries  had  entered  the  region ; 
and  while  little  impression  was  made  upon  the  business 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  a  few  Americans  re- 
mained to  till  the  soil  and  to  instruct  the  Indians  in 
religious  things.  This  created  a  bond  between  the 
United  States  and  the  distant  Columbia  which  forced 
the  government  to  take  an  interest  in  that  country. 
The  question  of  the  future  of  Texas  had  also  compelled 
the  United  States  to  concern  itself  about  the  Mexican 
territories,  and  at  one  time  (1835)  President  Jackson 
w^as  anxious  to  buy  northern  California  in  order  to 
secure  the  fine  harbour  of  San  Francisco.     Accord- 

127 


128       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

ingly,  he  sent  an  agent,  Mr.  W.  A.  Slocum,  to  the 
Pacific  to  collect  information  for  the  government,  and 
on  this  voyage  the  first  official  visit  was  paid  to  Oregon. 

Slocum's  visit  to  Oregon.  Slocum  arrived  in  the 
Columbia  River  at  the  end  of  the  year  1836,  with  par- 
ticular instructions  from  President  Jackson  to  govern 
his  doings  there.  He  was  to  visit  all  the  white  settle- 
ments on  and  near  the  Columbia,  as  well  as  the  various 
Indian  villages;  to  make  a  complete  census  of  both 
whites  and  Indians,  and  to  learn  what  the  white  people 
thought  about  the  question  of  American  rights  in  Ore- 
gon. Briefly,  he  was  to  "  obtain  all  such  information 
...  as  [might]  prove  interesting  or  useful  to  the 
United  States."  Mr.  Slocum  performed  his  work 
with  a  good  deal  of  thoroughness.  He  made  charts 
of  the  Columbia  River,  locating  all  the  principal  Indian 
villages ;  visited  Fort  Vancouver  to  learn  about  the  fur 
trade  and  other  business  of  the  establishment;  and 
went  up  the  Willamette  Valley  to  the  Methodist  mis- 
sion, calling  at  nearly  every  settler's  cabin  passed  on 
the  way.  He  was  pleased  with  the  country,  found  the 
missionaries  doing  good  work  among  the  French  and 
other  settlers,  and  became  enthusiastic  over  the  agri- 
cultural advantages  of  the  Willamette  Valley.  He 
pronounced  it  "  the  finest  grazing  country  in  the  world. 
Here  there  are  no  droughts,"  he  says,  "as  on  the 
Pampas  of  Buenos  Ayres  or  the  plains  of  California, 
whilst  the  lands  abound  with  richer  grasses  both  winter 
and  summer." 

The   Willamette    Cattle    Company,    1837.     ^r. 


The  Colonizing  Movement  129 

Slocum  believed  that  if  the  settlers  could  be  better  pro- 
vided with  cattle,  which  were  as  yet  comparatively 
scarce,  the  prosperity  of  the  country  would  be  assured; 
and  with  this  idea  the  Oregon  people  heartily  agreed. 
The  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  while  generous  in  pro- 
viding farmers  with  work  oxen,  were  not  prepared  to 
sell  breeding  stock  freely,  because  their  herds  were  not 
yet  large  enough  to  more  than  supply  their  own  needs. 
The  only  practical  way  to  obtain  more  cattle  was  to 
bring  them  overland  from  California,  where  the  Mexi- 
can ranchers  were  slaughtering  many  thousands  each 
year  for  the  sake  of  the  hides  and  tallow  which  they 
sold  mainly  to  Boston  shipovv^ners.^  There  was  one 
settler  in  the  Willamette  valley  who  was  familiar  with 
California,  having  lived  there  several  years  before  com- 
ing to  Oregon.  This  was  Ewing  Young,  a  man  of 
considerable  talent  and  enterprise,  who  now  headed  a 
movement  for  bringing  cattle  from  the  South. ^  Slo- 
cum encouraged  the  project  in  every  way,  especially 

^  One  of  the  most  entertaining  books  on  early  California  is 
Richard  H.  Dana's  classic  story,  "  Two  Years  Before  the  Mast." 
It  gives  an  account  of  the  author's  experience  while  a  sailor  on 
one  of  the  "  hide  and  tallow  "  ships  trading  along  the  California 
coast. 

2  Young  was  a  noted  frontiersman,  originally  from  Tennessee, 
who  early  began  trading  in  New  Mexico.  From  there  he  went  to 
California  in  1829  and  came  to  Oregon  overland  with  a  few  others 
in  1834,  driving  a  band  of  horses.  One  of  his  companions  on 
this  trip  was  the  famous  Oregon  agitator,  Hall  J.  Kelley,  of 
Boston.  Kelley  had  expected  to  bring  out  a  colony  to  Oregon 
in  1832;  but  failing  to  secure  colonists  he  finally  started  on  his 
own  account  going  to  Mexico,  thence  to  California  and  finally 
with  Young  to  Oregon. 


130       A  History   of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

by  offering  to  carry  to  California  without  expense  the 
men  who  were  to  go  for  the  purpose  of  securing  cattle. 
An  association  was  formed,  with  Young  at  its  head, 
that  took  the  name  of  the  "  Willamette  Cattle  Com- 
pany." A  fund  of  several  thousand  dollars  was  sub- 
scribed, partly  by  Dr.  McLoughlin  for  the  fur  com- 
pany, partly  by  the  Methodist  mission,  and  the  re- 
mainder by  individuals.  Mr.  Slocum  himself  took  a 
small  financial  interest  in  the  company.  Ewing  Young 
and  P.  L.  Edwards,  with  a  few  others,  took  passrge 
in  the  Loriot  (Slocum's  ship)  to  California,  where  they 
bought  eight  hundred  head  of  cattle  at  three  dollars 
apiece,  and  forty  horses  at  twelve  dollars  apiece.  After 
many  vexations  and  hardships  they  arrived  in  the 
Willamette  valley  with  six  hundred  head  of  stock,  the 
remainder  having  been  lost  by  the  way. 

The  bringing  of  these  cattle,  in  the  fall  of  1837, 
marks  the  opening  of  a  new  era  for  Oregon.  It  gave 
a  great  stimulus  to  stock  raising,  for  which  the  country 
was  specially  adapted,  promoted  the  prosperity  of  the 
settlers  already  there,  and,  by  the  reports  which  soon 
travelled  eastward,  caused  many  people  in  the  Missis- 
sippi valley  to  look  with  longing  eyes  toward  this  land 
of  ease  and  plenty,  thus  preparing  the  way  for  the 
colonizing  movement  which  was  about  to  begin. 

Renewal  of  Oregon  agitation  in  Congress.  Mr. 
Slocum  returned  to  the  United  States  and  made  his  re- 
port to  the  government.  In  December,  1837,  this 
document,  so  interesting  as  the  earliest  particular  ac- 
count of  the  Willamette  settlement,  was  presented  to 


The  Colonizing  Alovement  13 1 

Congress  and  immediately  aroused  great  interest.  One 
of  the  points  which  Slocum  insisted  upon  was  that  the 
United  States  must  never  accept  a  northern  boundary 
for  Oregon  that  would  give  to  the  British  government 
the  great  harbour  of  Puget  Sound.  In  other  words, 
his  idea  was  that  we  should  hold  out  sturdily  for  the 
49th  parallel,  already  thrice  offered,  and  refuse  utterly 
to  take  Great  Britain's  offer  of  the  Columbia  boundary. 
This  doubtless  strengthened  the  determination  of  a 
few  leaders  in  Congress  to  secure  a  law  for  the  military 
occupation  of  the  Columbia,  similar  to  that  which  Mr. 
Floyd  tried  to  obtain  fifteen  years  earlier.  The  Oregon 
question  now  came  up  once  more  and  remained  before 
Congress,  in  some  form,  during  the  succeeding  ten 
years,  till  Oregon  was  effectively  settled  by  the  pioneers, 
a  favourable  treaty  obtained  from  Great  Britain,  and 
an  American  territory  created  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

Linn's  bill  and  report,  January  and  June,  1838. 
Of  the  many  men  who  took  part  in  the  Oregon  dis- 
cussions, between  the  years  1837  and  1843,  none  was 
more  active  or  determined  than  Dr.  Lewis  F.  Linn, 
senator  from  Missouri.  He  believed  thoroughly  in 
American  rights  on  the  Pacific,  was  inclined  to  belittle 
the  British  claims,  and  insisted  on  the  urgent  necessity 
of  taking  military  possession  of  the  Columbia  River. 
He  proposed  also  to  establish  a  territorial  government 
for  Oregon.  His  first  bill  for  these  purposes  was  pre- 
sented to  the  Senate  in  January,  1838,  and  in  June 
Dr.  Linn  brought  in  a  report  on  the  Oregon  question. 
This  was  a  lengthy  document,  containing  a  history  of 


132       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

the  events  on  which  our  right  to  the  Oregon  country 
rested,  and  trying  to  show  that  the  British  claim  was 
not  well  founded.  In  these  respects  it  differed  little 
from  the  earlier  report  by  Floyd;  yet  on  many  points 
Linn  was  able  to  give  information  never  before  pre- 
sented to  the  country.  For  example,  he  described  the 
road  to  Oregon,  which  had  recently  been  traversed  by 
two  women  in  the  Whitman-Spalding  party.  Many 
brief  documents  containing  valuable  information  were 
printed  as  appendices  to  the  report,  which  thus  became 
a  sort  of  text- book  for  the  study  of  the  Oregon  ques- 
tion. Thousands  of  copies  were  printed,  and  in  the 
next  few  years  they  were  distributed  all  over  the  coun- 
try, especially  through  the  West,  with  the  result  that 
numbers  of  men  soon  became  interested  in  "  our  terri- 
tory on  the  Pacific,"  as  Oregon  was  frequently  called.^ 
Jason  Lee's  return;  the  Farnham  party.  Other 
influences  were  working  to  the  same  effect.  Jason  Lee, 
the  superintendent  of  the  Willamette  mission,  returned 
to  the  United  States  in  the  summer  of  1838  "  to  obtain 
additional  facilities  to  carry  on  .  .  .  the  missionary 
work  in  Oregon  territory."  He  travelled  overland 
with  a  few  companions,  passing  through  the  frontier 
settlements  of  Missouri  and  Illinois,  where  he  accepted 
invitations  to  lecture  and  to  preach  in  the  churches. 
A  principal  aim  was  to  raise  money  for  his  missionary 
enterprise,  but  incidentally  Lee  aroused  a  good  deal  of 
enthusiasm  for  the  far-off  country,  so  rich  in  natural 

1  When  the  pioneers  began  to  go  to  Oregon  copies  of  Linn's 
Report  were  among  the  very  few  books  taken  across  the  plains. 


The  Colonizing  Movement  133 

resources,  where  he  had  Hved  during  the  preceding 
four  years,  ahnost  within  sight  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
At  Peoria,  Ilhnois,  he  left  one  of  two  Indian  boys 
who  had  gone  east  with  him,  and  perhaps  partly  on  that 
account  a  special  interest  was  aroused  at  that  place.  In 
the  following  spring  Mr.  Thomas  J.  Farnham  of 
Peoria,  with  a  company  of  fourteen  men,  undertook 
the  overland  trip  to  Oregon.  He  failed  to  keep  his 
party  together,  and  finished  the  journey  with  but  three 
associates.  Farnham  visited  the  Whitman  mission, 
and  later  the  Willamette  settlement,  after  which  he 
took  ship  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  to  California. 
On  his  return  to  the  United  States  he  published  popu- 
lar accounts  of  the  Oregon  country,  as  well  as  of  Cali- 
fornia, which  were  widely  read  and  helped  to  swell 
the  rising  tide  of  interest  in  the  far  west. 

Petitions  and  memorials.  The  settlers  in  the 
Willamette  valley  intrusted  Farnham  with  a  memorial 
to  Congress,  asking  that  the  protection  of  the  United 
States  government  might  be  extended  over  them.  Lee 
had  carried  with  him  from  Oregon  a  similar  petition, 
which  was  presented  to  Congress  in  January,  1839,  by 
Senator  Linn.  It  spoke  of  the  fertility  of  the  Willa- 
mette and  Umpqua  valleys,  the  unsurpassed  facilities 
for  stock  raising,  the  mild  and  pleasant  climate  of  west- 
ern Oregon,  and  the  exceptional  opportunities  for  com- 
merce. A  special  point  was  made  of  the  growing  trade 
with  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  whose  people  needed  the 
beef  and  flour  produced  in  the  Willamette  valley,  and 
would  soon  be  able  to  exchange  for  them  coffee,  sugar. 


134       ^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

and  other  tropical  products  required  by  the  Oregon 
settlers.  "  We  flatter  ourselves,"  say  the  thirty-six 
signers  of  the  memorial,  "  that  we  are  the  germ  of  a 
great  state.  .  .  .  The  country  must  populate.  The 
Congress  of  the  United  States  must  say  by  whom. 
The  natural  resources  of  the  country,  with  a  well- 
judged  civil  code,  will  invite  a  good  community.  But 
a  good  community  will  hardly  emigrate  to  a  country 
which  promises  no  protection  to  life  or  property.  .  .  ." 
Lee  personally  wrote  a  letter  to  Congressman  Caleb 
Cushing  of  Massachusetts,  in  which  he  reinforced  the 
statements  made  in  the  petition.^  "  It  may  be 
thought,"  he  says,  "  that  Oregon  is  of  little  importance; 
but  depend  upon  It,  sir,  there  is  the  germ  of  a  great 
state."  The  Oregon  people  desired  from  Congress  two 
things :  first,  the  protection  of  the  laws  of  the  United 
States;  second,  a  guarantee  that  they  might  keep  the 
lands  already  taken  up  by  them.  Linn,  Cushing,  and 
other  men  made  a  faithful  effort  to  obtain  such  laws ; 
but  the  prevailing  sentiment  was  against  them,  and  no 
bill  passed  either  house  of  Congress  till  1843.^ 
The  Oregon  Provisional  Emigration  Society;  its 

1  Cushing  made  a  report  to  the  House  of  Representatives  in 
1839  which  in  some  respects  supplemented  the  report  made  by 
Linn  to  the  Senate  the  year  before. 

2  It  was  indeed,  a  very  difficult  matter  to  draw  up  a  bill  for  the 
extension  of  our  national  authority  over  Oregon  without  violating 
either  the  letter  or  the  spirit  of  the  treaty  of  joint  occupation. 
Many  members  of  Congress  refused  to  support  the  bills  presented 
by  Linn  and  others  because  it  was  feared  their  passage  might 
embroil  us  with  Great  Britain. 


The  Colonizing  Movement  135 

origin  and  purpose.  We  have  now  to  describe  a 
movement  arising  outside  of  Congress  in  the  summer 
of  1838,  which  added  largely  to  the  effect  of  the  agita- 
tion begun  by  Linn  and  Gushing.  This  was  the  so- 
called  Oregon  Provisional  Emigration  Society,  organ- 
ized at  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  in  August,  1838.  The 
society  was  not  a  missionary  organization  purely, 
though  most  of  its  leading  members  belonged  to  the 
Methodist  denomination.  Its  aim  was  "  to  prepare 
the  way  for  the  Christian  settlement  of  Oregon."  It 
proposed  to  enlist  several  hundred  Christian  families, 
send  them  to  Oregon  overland,  and  encourage  them 
to  make  use  of  all  the  advantages  for  stock  raising, 
commerce,  fishing,  etc.,  that  the  country  afforded.  But 
this  was  not  to  be  the  only  aim  of  the  settlement,  for 
which  the  founders  of  the  society  had  "  nobler  purposes 
in  view."  They  believed  it  might  be  possible  to  Chris- 
tianize the  Indians,  educate  them,  and  make  them  citi- 
zens of  a  new  commonwealth  in  which  they  were  to 
have  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  white  citizens. 
The  theory  was  that  while  the  Indians  east  of  the 
Rockies  had  already  become  hopelessly  degraded, 
through  contact  with  white  men,  those  in  the  Oregon 
country  were  still  mainly  sound,  and  if  taken  in  time 
might  be  saved. 

The  Oregonian.  The  society  published  a  monthly 
magazine  called  at  first  The  Oregonian.  The  phrase 
oud  Indian's  Advocate  was  afterward  added  to  the 
title.  It  was  edited  by  Rev.  Frederick  P.  Tracy,  of 
Lynn,  Massachusetts,  who  was  also  the  secretary  of 


136       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

the  society.  In  the  numbers  of  this  magazine  we  find 
a  large  amount  of  information  concerning  the  Oregon 
of  eighty  years  ago.^  The  editor  grew  eloquent  in  the 
effort  to  set  before  his  readers  the  possibilities  of  this 
great  country.  He  called  it  "  the  future  home  of  the 
power  which  is  to  rule  the  Pacific,  .  .  .  the  theatre 
on  which  mankind  are  to  act  out  a  part  not  yet  per- 
formed in  the  drama  of  life  and  government."  Ore- 
gon's "  far-spreading  seas  and  mighty  rivers  [were] 
to  teem  with  the  commerce  of  an  empire  " ;  her  "  bound- 
less prairies  and  verdant  vales  [were]  to  feel  the  steps 
of  civilized  millions;  .  .  ." 

Colonizing  plan  fails.  Such  enthusiasm,  supported 
by  much  valual^le  information,  must  have  produced 
considerable  effect,  since  the  magazine  reached  a  circu- 
lation of  nearly  eight  hundred  copies,  and  in  addition 
to  this  the  society  also  sent  an  agent  into  the  western 
states  to  enlist  emigrants,  who  were  to  go  to  Oregon  in 
the  spring  of  1840.  This  scheme  of  colonization 
failed.  Since  the  magazine  suspended  publication  in 
the  year  1839,  we  do  not  have  the  society's  explana- 
tion of  the  failure.  But  probably  they  found  imprac- 
ticable the  plan  of  enlisting  well  to  do  persons  in  a 
scheme  of  colonization  which  was  more  or  less  mission- 
ary in  its  aims,  particularly  since  they  proposed  to 
secure  the  political  and  social  equality  of  the  Indians. 
In  a  word,  the  plan  was  too  visionary  to  succeed. 

1  Apparently  only  eleven  numbers  were  printed.  It  begins 
with  October,  1838,  and  ends  with  August,  1839.  Complete  files 
of  this  paper  are  very  rare. 


The  Colonizing  Movement  137 

But  by  this  time  there  were  Httle  knots  of  men  in 
various  parts  of  the  United  States, —  Pennsylvania, 
Ohio,  Michigan,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Missouri, — 
who  thought  of  forming  emigration  societies  to  colonize 
Oregon.  There  was  some  delay  in  carrying  out  these 
plans;  but  the  idea  had  begun  to  take  hold  of  the 
popular  mind,  and  a  few  years  would  see  the  wagon 
trains  gathering  for  the  wonderful  journey  across  the 
continent. 

Lee's  missionary  colonization  scheme.  We  left 
Jason  Lee  busily  at  w^ork  in  the  eastern  states  raising 
money  and  men  for  his  missionary  reinforcement.  He 
was  remarkably  successful,  securing,  with  the  help  of 
the  Methodist  board,  the  large  sum  of  forty-two  thou- 
sand dollars.  He  got  together  a  company  of  over  fifty 
persons  —  men,  women,  and  children  —  with  whom 
he  sailed  from  New  York  in  the  ship  Lausanne  on  the 
loth  of  October,  1839.  In  the  following  May  they 
reached  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  from  Hawaii,  and 
on  the  1st  of  June  all  were  safely  landed  at  Vancouver. 
Here  the  party  separated.  One  of  the  ministers,  Rev. 
J.  H.  Frost,  was  sent  to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia; 
Rev.  A.  F.  Waller  took  charge  of  a  station  at  Willa- 
mette Falls;  two  others.  Rev.  W.  W.  Cone  and  Rev. 
Gustavus  Hines,  went  to  the  Umpqua  to  begin  a  new 
mission,  which  did  not  succeed;  Mr.  Brewer  and  Dr. 
Babcock,  laymen,  reinforced  the  station  at  the  Dalles; 
and  Rev.  J.  P.  Richmond,  with  his  family  and  Miss 
Clark  as  teacher,  went  up  to  the  station  already  begun 
near  Fort  Nesqually  on  Puget  Sound.     The  rest  of 


138       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

them  passed  up  the  Willamette  to  the  central  mission 
near  the  present  capital  city  of  Salem,  where  some  took 
lands,  and  helped  to  change  this  establishment  into  the 
truly  American  colony  it  now  became.  About  the  same 
time  a  number  of  Rocky  Mountain  trappers  settled  in 
the  valley,  and  still  further  increased  the  American  in- 
fluence. The  colony  now  contained  more  than  a  hun- 
dred people. 

Visit  of  Lieutenant  Wilkes.  In  the  year  1841 
Oregon  received  a  visit  from  Lieutenant  Charles 
Wilkes,  commander  of  the  Pacific  Exploring  Squadron 
sent  out  by  the  United  States  government  in  1838.^ 
Wilkes  took  pains  to  travel  through  all  the  settled  por- 
tions of  the  \A'illamette  valley,  and  gives  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  what  he  found  there.  Near  the  mouth  of  the 
river  was  a  group  of  young  men  building  a  small  vessel, 
which  they  called  The  Star  of  Oregon,  and  which  was 
afterward  taken  to  San  Francisco  and  exchanged  for 
cattle.  At  the  falls  were  Waller's  mission  and  a  trad- 
ing, or  rather  salmon-packing,  station  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company.  At  a  place  called  Champoeg  there  were 
four  or  five  cabins,  in  one  of  which  Wilkes  was  enter- 
tained by  an  old  seaman,  named  Johnson,  who  had 
fought  in  the  glorious  naval  battle  between  the  Consti- 

^  Two  other  noteworthy  visitors  to  Oregon  during  this  year 
were  Sir  George  Simpson,  governor  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany, who  was  on  his  trip  around  the  world,  and  a  French  diplo- 
mat, Duflot  de  ]\Iofras,  at  that  time  connected  with  the  French 
legation  in  Mexico.  Each  wrote  a  book,  in  which  some  account 
of  Oregon  is  contained. 


The  Colonizing  Movement  139 

tution  and  the  Guerriere}  Farther  up  the  river  were 
observed  "  many  small  farms  of  from  fifty  to  one  hun- 
dred acres,  belonging  to  the  old  servants  of  the  com- 
pany, Canadians,  who  [had]  settled  here;  they  all 
[appeared]  very  comfortable  and  thriving."  Twelve 
miles  above  Champoeg  dwelt  the  Catholic  priest, 
Father  Blanchet,  "  settled  among  his  flock,  .  .  .  doing 
great  good  to  the  settlers  in  ministering  to  their  tem- 
poral as  well  as  spiritual  wants."  The  traveller  passed 
a  few  more  farms  before  reaching  the  first  of  the  build- 
ings belonging  to  the  Methodist  mission.  Wilkes  was 
entertained  by  Mr.  Abernethy,  whose  family  was  one  of 
the  four  living  in  the  "  hospital  "  erected  by  Dr.  White 
— "  A  well-built  frame  edifice  with  a  double  piazza  in 
front,  .  .  .  perhaps  the  best  building  in  Oregon."  A 
ride  of  five  miles  brought  him  to  "  the  mill,"  ^  where  he 
found  "the  air  and  stir  of  a  new  secular  settlement; 
.  .  .  the  missionaries  [had]  made  individual  selections 
of  lands  to  the  amount  of  one  thousand  acres  each,  in 
the  prospect  of  the  whole  country  falling  under  our 
laws."  He  was  convinced  that  they  were  now  more 
interested  in  building  up  the  country  than  in  labouring 
further  among  the  few  remaining  Indians.  Neither 
did  they  care  to  leave  the  Willamette  valley  in  order  to 
find  a  more  hopeful  mission  field,  but  preferred  to  re- 
main here  and  direct  the  future  development  of  the  new 
colony  they  had  done  so  much  to  create.     Among  these 

*  Johnson  afterward  built  the  first  house  in  the  city  of  Port- 
land. 

2  This  was  near  the  present  site  of  Salem. 


140       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

people  Wilkes  heard  much  about  a  plan  to  establish  a 
provisional  government  for  Oregon,  This  he  dis- 
couraged, believing  that  there  were  as  yet  too  few 
American  settlers  to  make  the  experiment  a  success. 

Relations  with  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company. 
Wilkes  found  some  of  his  countrymen  disposed  to  com- 
plain of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company;  but  he  appears 
to  have  given  little  heed  to  these  mutterings,  knowing 
that  there  was  no  serious  cause  of  trouble  between  the 
two  nationalities. 

Dr.  White's  company  of  120  settlers,  1842.  The 
year  after  Wilkes's  visit,  Oregon  received  the  first  con- 
siderable party  of  the  emigrants  coming  from  the 
United  States  by  the  overland  route.  Dr.  Elijah 
White,  who  had  arrived  in  the  country  in  1837,  re- 
turned to  the  East  by  sea  in  1840,  Soon  after  this  the 
government  began  to  think  of  sending  an  Indian  agent 
to  Oregon,  and  early  in  the  year  1842  White  was  ap- 
pointed to  this  position,  with  instructions  to  take  out 
as  many  emigrants  as  could  be  got  together  in  the  West. 
White  delivered  lectures  in  various  places,  interviewed 
pioneers  in  Missouri  and  elsewhere,  and  soon  had  a 
company  of  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  who 
started  from  Independence,  Missouri,  in  May,  and 
made  a  successful  journey  across  the  mountains.  The 
party  took  wagons  as  far  as  Fort  Hall,  using  pack 
horses  from  this  place  to  the  Columbia.^ 

1  About  the  same  time  the  government  sent  out  Lieutenant 
John  C.  Fremont  to  explore  a  route  into  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
This  was  the  first  of  his  "  path-finding "  expeditions. 


The  Colonizing  Movement  141 

The  Ashburton  Treaty,  1842.  While  this  com- 
pany was  on  its  way  across  the  plains,  Lord  Ashburton 
and  Daniel  Webster  were  discussing  at  Washington  all 
the  questions  remaining  unsettled  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain;  and  on  the  9th  of  August, 
they  signed  what  is  called  the  Ashburton  Treaty. 
Americans  had  hoped  that  the  Oregon  question  might 
be  settled  at  this  time;  but  in  the  negotiations  it  was 
soon  found  that  Great  Britain  was  not  yet  prepared  to 
make  concessions,  and  the  treaty  omitted  all  mention 
of  the  matter. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    FIRST    GREAT    MIGRATION 

The  Oregon  situation  in  1842.  Many  people  were 
grievously  disappointed  at  the  outcome  of  the  Webster- 
Ashburton  negotiation,  because  of  the  silence  of  the 
treaty  concerning  Oregon.  Yet,  looking  back  from 
this  distance,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  any  serious  evil 
could  result  from  a  further  delay  in  settling  the  ques- 
tion. It  had  already  waited  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
during  most  of  which  time  Americans  had  no  interests 
in  the  region  west  of  the  Rockies.  Now  they  not  only 
had  the  beginnings  of  an  actual  settlement  in  the  Willa- 
mette valley,  but  everything  foreshadowed  such  a  large 
emigration  to  the  Columbia  that  our  position  would 
soon  be  much  stronger  than  that  of  our  adversary. 
The  situation  was  a  little  like  that  on  the  Mississippi 
prior  to  the  Louisiana  Purchase ;  and  just  as  Jefferson 
wanted  time  to  plant  strong  American  communities  on 
the  banks  of  this  river  before  forcing  an  issue  with 
France,  so  far-sighted  statesmen  of  forty  years  later 
were  glad  to  see  the  pioneers  preparing  for  the  journey 
to  Oregon,  because  this  would  strengthen  the  American 
claim  as  against  Great  Britain.^ 

1  President  Tyler,  writing  three  years  later  (October  7,  1845) 
to  Mr.  Calhoun,  says  that  he  hesitated  to  take  up  the  Oregon 

142 


The  First  Great  'Migration  143 

The  prospect  for  emigration  in  1843;  White's 
letter.  Certainly  at  the  time  the  Ashburton  Treaty 
was  signed  American  prospects  were  brightening.  In 
the  same  month  (August,  1842),  Dr.  White  wrote  a 
letter  from  the  mountains  in  which  he  assured  the 
frontiersmen  that  the  Oregon  colony  would  prove  suc- 
cessful, that  his  company  would  reach  the  Willamette 
in  safety,  and  that  a  good  pilot  could  be  procured  to 
bring  out  a  company  the  following  spring. 

Other  causes;  the  Oregon  country.  This  was 
doubtless  one  of  the  causes  inducing  the  pioneers  to 
prepare  for  the  overland  march  in  1843.  But  there 
were  many  others.  The  long  agitation  in  Congress, 
reports,  speeches,  newspaper  articles,  and  letters  had 
given  the  pioneering  class  considerable  information 
about  the  Oregon  country.  They  knew  that  the  Willa- 
mette valley  was  a  favoured  land  for  farmer  and  stock- 
man, possessing  a  rich  soil,  mild  climate,  and  such  a 
combination  of  prairie  and  forest,  with  springs  of  pure 
water  everywhere,  as  would  make  the  opening  of  new 
farms  peculiarly  easy  and  pleasant.  In  the  western 
states,  the  settlers  had  suffered  much  for  the  lack  of 
easy  transportation,  their  crops  bringing  scarcely 
enough  to  pay  for  the  labour  expended  upon  them ;  but 
in  Oregon  they  would  have  a  navigable  river  at  their 

negotiation  after  the  treaty  of  1S42,  "  believing  that  under  the 
convention  of  joint  occupation  we  stood  on  the  most  favourable 
footing.  Our  population  was  already  finding  its  way  to  the  shores 
of  the  Pacific,  and  a  few  years  would  see  an  American  Settlement 
on  the  Columbia  sufficiently  strong  to  defend  itself  and  to  protect 
the  rights  of  the  U.  States  to  the  territory." 


144       ^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

doors,  and  the  ocean  but  a  short  distance  away.  The 
market  for  grain  was  said  to  be  good,  cattle  were  re- 
ported to  be  worth  four  times  what  they  were  bringing 
in  western  Missouri,  and  in  each  case  the  cost  of  pro- 
ducing was  very  much  less.  Oregon,  also,  had  other 
resources,  aside  from  these  exceptional  agricultural 
advantages.  Her  streams  were  full  of  the  finest  sal- 
mon, which  might  be  packed  and  shipped  at  a  good 
profit ;  splendid  forests  of  fir  and  pine,  extending  down 
to  the  water's  edge,  invited  the  establishment  of  lumber 
mills ;  and  unlimited  water  power  was  at  hand  for  all 
manufacturing  purposes.  Such  a  combination  of  ele- 
ments, the  pioneers  thought,  would  insure  the  develop- 
ment of  a  prosperous  state  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific. 
"  Hard  times,"  slavery,  the  spirit  of  adventure, 
patriotism.  For  several  years,  the  western  people 
had  experienced  continuous  "  hard  times,"  with  low 
prices  for  everything  they  had  to  sell,  and  almost  no 
opportunity  to  improve  their  condition  either  in  farm- 
ing or  other  business.  The  spirit  of  unrest  on  these 
accounts  was  widespread.  Moreover,  many  persons 
in  the  southwestern  states  were  beginning  to  feel  very 
keenly  the  evils  of  slavery,  which  was  causing  violent 
agitation  throughout  the  country,  and  were  anxious  to 
remove  their  families  beyond  the  reach  of  its  influence. 
But  underneath  all  other  motives  was  a  distinctly  Amer- 
ican love  of  adventure,  the  product  of  generations  of 
pioneering.  It  was  the  spirit  of  the  frontiersmen  of 
the  olden  time:  the  longing  to  open  new  "trails,"  to 
subdue   strange   lands,    and   make    new    settlements. 


The  First  Great  Migration  145 

True,  men  had  abundant  opportunity  to  "  move  "  with- 
out crossing  the  western  mountains.  They  might  go 
from  Ohio  to  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  or  Iowa;  from 
Kentucky  to  western  Missouri,  Arkansas,  or  Texas. 
But,  while  thousands  were  each  year  doing  this,  such 
migrations  after  all  were  hardly  satisfying  to  those  re- 
membering the  deeds  of  pioneer  ancestors  who  had 
traversed  the  "  Wilderness  Road  "  into  Kentucky,  and 
settled  in  a  wild  region  amid  constant  dangers  and 
alarms  from  hostile  savages.  The  stories  of  Boone, 
Kenton,  Clark,  and  scores  of  others  were  still  recited 
around  frontier  firesides  by  old  men  and  women  who 
spoke  out  of  their  own  vivid  recollections  of  these  bor- 
der heroes.  Such  tales  fired  the  imaginations  of  the 
young,  and  prepared  a  generation  of  men  for  a  new 
feat  of  pioneering,  more  arduous  in  some  respects  than 
that  of  seventy  years  before.  But  it  was  an  alluring 
prospect,  this  journey  of  two  thousand  miles  through 
an  uninhabited  wilderness.  The  combination  of  vast 
plains,  great  rivers  and  mountains  enticed  the  dweller 
in  the  peaceful,  but  unpoetic  valleys  of  the  interior, 
while  the  vision  of  a  farm  directly  tributary  to  the 
western  ocean  seemed  to  him  to  promise  a  larger 
measure  of  economic  bliss  than  he  could  hope  to  achieve 
at  home. 

Add  to  all  this  the  belief,  which  many  held,  that  their 
going  to  Oregon  would  benefit  the  United  States  in  its 
contest  with  Great  Britain  over  territorial  rights,  and 
we  have  a  combination  of  motives  powerful  enough  to 
set  hundreds  of  pioneers  in  motion. 


146       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Collecting  the  companies.  The  approach  of  spring 
(1843)  found  numbers  of  men  in  various  sections  of 
the  country  preparing  for  the  march.  The  companies 
had  been  organizing  for  many  months.  Correspond- 
ence committees  in  western  Missouri  received  names  of 
intending  emigrants  as  early  as  September,  1842.  An 
emigration  agent  from  St.  Louis,  Mr.  J.  M,  Shivley, 
spent  the  winter  in  Washington,  kept  the  people  of  the 
West  informed  as  to  the  progress  of  legislation  respect- 
ing Oregon,  and  tried  to  induce  the  Secretary  of  War 
to  provide  a  company  of  troops  to  escort  the  emigrants. 
Senator  Linn  once  more  brought  up  his  bill  for  the  es- 
tabhshment  of  a  territorial  government  and  the  grant- 
ing of  lands  to  settlers.  It  passed  the  Senate  on  the  3d 
of  February  by  the  close  vote  of  twenty-four  to  twenty- 
two.  Although  afterward  killed  in  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, the  enthusiasm  and  hope  aroused  by  the 
passage  of  the  bill  through  the  Senate  had  much  to  do 
with  starting  new  recruits  to  the  place  of  rendezvous. 
So  did,  also,  the  public  meetings  held  in  various  places, 
like  Columbus  and  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  and  Springfield, 
Illinois,  to  discuss  the  Oregon  question  and  to  adopt 
resolutions  urging  Congress  to  pass  the  Linn  bill.  A 
few  men  of  large  influence  in  the  western  communi- 
ties had  decided  to  emigrate,  and  they  undertook  to 
persuade  others  by  means  of  newspaper  articles,  per- 
sonal interviews,  and  public  addresses.  In  Blooming- 
ton,  Iowa,  the  entire  population  appears  to  have  been 
affected  by  what  men  called  the  "  Oregon  fever  " ;  they 
held  several  public  meetings,  organized  an  emigrating 


The  First  Great  Migration  147; 

party,  adopted  rules  concerning  equipment,  the  route  to 
be  taken,  and  other  details  of  preparation  for  the 
journey. 

Organizing  for  the  march.  Independence,  Mis- 
souri, had  for  some  years  been  the  general  outfitting 
place  for  companies  of  traders,  trappers,  and  emigrants 
going  to  the  far  West.  The  village  lay  a  few  miles 
from  the  Missouri  River,  near  the  present  site  of 
Kansas  City,  and  was  the  radiating  point  for  many 
wilderness  highways,  including  the  great  Santa  Fe 
and  Oregon  "  trails."  Most  of  the  small  parties  from 
Ohio,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and 
Iowa,  as  well  as  those  from  Missouri,  gathered  at  this 
place.  By  the  middle  of  May  many  had  arrived,  driv- 
ing in  from  all  directions  two,  three,  a  dozen  or  twenty 
wagons  at  a  time,  with  loose  stock  following  behind 
the  train.  They  now  made  arrangements  for  the  start, 
adopting  a  body  of  rules,  and  choosing  a  pilot  to  con- 
duct them  through  the  mountains.  The  pioneers  were 
then  ready  to  move  forward. 

Peter  H.  Burnett ;  the  start ;  Elm  Grove.  A  lead- 
ing man  of  this  emigration  was  Peter  II.  Burnett,  a 
young  lawyer  from  Platte  County,  Missouri,  who  had 
done  much  to  get  the  company  together.  He  kept  a 
diary  during  the  course  of  the  journey,  and  on  reaching 
the  Willamette  wrote  a  number  of  letters  for  the  New 
York  Herald,  giving  an  account  of  the  trip.  Looking 
back  from  his  far  western  home  to  the  time  of  begin- 
ning their  march  from  Missouri,  and  realizing  both  its 
difficulties  and  the  significance  of  what  had  been  done. 


148       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

he  says :  "  On  the  22d  of  May  we  began  one  of  the 
most  arduous  and  important  trips  undertaken  in 
modern  times."  The  first  camp,  at  Elm  Grove,  on  ac- 
count of  its  strange  picturesqueness,  produced  a  strong 
impression  upon  the  mind  of  Burnett,  as  it  probably 
did  on  others.  "  I  have  never  witnessed  a  scene,"  he 
says,  "  more  beautiful  than  this.  Elm  Grove  stands 
in  a  wide,  gently  undulating  prairie.  The  moon  shed 
her  silvery  beams  on  the  white  sheets  of  sixty  wagons ; 
a  thousand  head  of  cattle  grazed  upon  the  surrounding 
plain;  fifty  campfires  sent  up  their  brilliant  flames,  and 
the  sound  of  the  sweet  violin  was  heard  in  the  tents. 
All  was  stir  and  excitement." 

Electing  officers;  division  of  the  company.  By 
the  time  they  had  crossed  the  Kansas  River  (June  i)  a 
good  many  others  had  joined  the  company,  which  now 
numbered  one  hundred  and  twenty  wagons,  nearly  one 
thousand  persons  of  all  ages,  and  more  than  five  times 
as  many  animals.  Stopping  to  complete  the  organiza- 
tion, Peter  H.  Burnett  was  chosen  captain,  J.  W. 
Nesmith  orderly  sergeant,  and  nine  others  designated 
to  form  a  council.  A  few  days  later,  however,  Bur- 
nett resigned,  and  the  company  was  divided  into  two 
parts.  Each  division  had  sixty  wagons ;  but  one  was 
composed  mainly  of  those  who  had  few  or  no  loose 
cattle,  and  called  "  the  light  column  " ;  while  the  other 
contained  the  owners  of  the  herds,  large  and  small, 
with  which  this  emigration  was  encumbered,  and  took 
the  name  of  "  the  cow-column."  There  was  a  separate 
captain  for  each. 


The  First  Great  Migration  149 

"A  Day  with  the  Cow-Column,"  by  Captain 
Jesse  Applegate.  The  leader  of  the  second  division 
was  Captain  Jesse  Applegate,  a  man  whom  the  people 
of  Oregon  delight  to  honour  as  one  of  the  noblest  of  the 
pioneers.  He  is  remembered  as  a  statesman,  a  sur- 
veyor, a  pathfinder  through  the  southern  mountains, 
and  in  general  a  leader  in  all  the  varied  activities  of 
frontier  life  in  the  Northwest.  But,  fortunately,  he 
was  also  a  writer  of  elegant  English  prose ;  and  one  of 
the  most  delightful  productions  of  his  pen  is  an  account 
which  he  wrote  in  1876  of  a  typical  day  on  this  long 
march  "  with  the  cow-column."  Since  this  essay  gives 
us  so  lifelike  a  picture  of  the  great  emigration  in  motion 
toward  the  west,  and  since  it  describes  the  camping 
methods  in  use  for  many  years  among  trapping  parties 
and  traders,  as  well  as  emigrants  to  Oregon  and  Cali- 
fornia, we  cannot  do  better  than  to  transcribe  a  portion 
of  it.i 

Daybreak ;  arousing  the  camp.  "  It  is  four  o'clock 
A.M. ;  the  sentinels  on  duty  have  discharged  their  rifles 
—  the  signal  that  the  hours  of  sleep  are  over  —  and 
every  wagon  and  tent  is  pouring  forth  its  night  tenants, 
and  slow  kindling  smokes  begin  largely  to  rise  and  float 
away  in  the  morning  air.  Sixty  men  start  from  the 
corral,  spreading  as  they  make  through  the  vast  herd 
of  cattle  and  horses  that  make  a   semicircle  around 

*  The  paper  was  read  by  Mr.  Applegate  before  the  Oregon 
Pioneer  Association  in  1876,  and  published  in  their  proceedings; 
it  was  reprinted  in  the  Quarterly  of  the  Oregon  Historical  So- 
ciety for  December,  1900. 


150       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

the  encampment,  the  most  distant  perhaps  two  miles 
away. 

Corralling  the  stock.  "  The  herders  pass  the  ex- 
treme verge  and  carefully  examine  for  trails  beyond,  to 
see  that  none  of  the  animals  have  strayed  or  been  stolen 
during  the  night.  This  morning  no  trails  lead  beyond 
the  outside  animals  in  sight,  and  by  five  o'clock  the 
herders  begin  to  contract  the  great  moving  circle,  and 
the  well-trained  animals  move  slowly  towards  camp, 
clipping  here  and  there  a  thistle  or  a  tempting  bunch 
of  grass  on  the  way.  In  about  an  hour  five  thousand 
animals  are  close  up  to  the  encampment,  and  the  team- 
sters are  busy  selecting  their  teams  and  driving  them 
inside  the  corral  to  be  yoked.  The  corral  is  a  circle  one 
hundred  yards  deep,  formed  with  wagons  connected 
strongly  with  each  other ;  the  wagon  in  the  rear  being 
connected  with  the  wagon  in  front  by  its  tongue  and  ox 
chains.  It  is  a  strong  barrier  that  the  most  vicious  ox 
cannot  break,  and  in  case  of  attack  from  the  Sioux 
would  be  no  contemptible  intrenchment. 

Getting  ready  for  the  day's  march.  "  From  six  to 
seven  o'clock  is  a  busy  time;  breakfast  is  to  be  eaten, 
the  tents  struck,  the  wagons  loaded  and  the  teams  yoked 
and  brought  up  in  readiness  to  be  attached  to  their  re- 
spective wagons.  All  know  when,  at  seven  o'clock, 
the  signal  to  march  sounds,  that  those  not  ready  to  take 
their  places  in  the  line  of  march  must  fall  into  the 
dusty  rear  for  the  day.  There  are  sixty  wagons. 
They  have  been  divided  into  fifteen  divisions  or  pla- 
toons of  four  wagons  each,  and  each  platoon  is  entitled 


The  First  Great  Migration  151 

to  lead  in  its  turn.  The  leading  platoon  to-day  will 
be  the  rear  one  to-morrow,  and  will  bring  up  the  rear 
unless  some  teamster  through  indolence  or  negligence 
has  lost  his  place  in  the  line,  and  is  condemned  to  that 
uncomfortable  post.  It  is  within  ten  minutes  of  seven ; 
the  corral  but  now  a  strong  barricade  is  everywhere 
broken,  the  teams  being  attached  to  the  wagons.  The 
women  and  children  have  taken  their  places  in  them. 
The  pilot  (a  borderer  who  has  passed  his  life  on  the 
verge  of  civilization  and  has  been  chosen  to  his  post  of 
leader  from  his  knowledge  of  the  savage  and  his  experi- 
ence in  travel  through  roadless  wastes)  stands  ready, 
in  the  midst  of  his  pioneers  and  aids,  to  mount  and 
lead  the  way.  Ten  or  fifteen  young  men,  not  to-day  on 
duty,  form  another  cluster.  They  are  ready  to  start 
on  a  buffalo  hunt,  are  well  mounted  and  well  armed, 
as  they  need  to  be,  for  the  unfriendly  Sioux  have  driven 
the  buffalo  out  of  the  Platte,  and  the  hunters  must  ride 
fifteen  or  twenty  miles  to  find  them.  The  cow  drivers 
are  hastening,  as  they  get  ready,  to  the  rear  of  their 
charge,  to  collect  and  prepare  them  for  the  day's  march. 
Breaking  camp;  forward  along  the  trail.  "It  is 
on  the  stroke  of  seven ;  the  rush  to  and  fro,  the  crack- 
ing of  whips,  the  loud  command  to  oxen,  and  what 
seemed  to  be  the  inextricable  confusion  of  the  last  ten 
minutes  has  ceased.  Fortunately  every  one  has  been 
found  and  every  teamster  is  at  his  post.  The  clear 
notes  of  a  trumpet  sound  in  the  front;  the  pilot  and 
his  guards  mount  their  horses;  the  leading  divisions  of 
the  wagons  move  out  of  the  encampment,  and  take  up 


152       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

the  line  of  march  ;  the  rest  fall  into  their  places  with  the 
precision  of  clockwork,  until  the  spot  so  lately  full  of 
life  sinks  back  into  that  solitude  that  seems  to  reign 
over  the  broad  plain  and  rushing  river  as  the  caravan 
draws  its  lazy  length  towards  the  distant  El  Dorado. . . . 

The  nooning.  "  The  pilot,  by  measuring  the 
ground  and  timing  the  speed  of  the  horses,  has  deter- 
mined the  rate  of  each,  so  as  to  enable  him  to  select  the 
nooning  place  as  nearly  as  the  requisite  grass  and  water 
can  be  had  at  the  end  of  five  hours'  travel  of  the 
wagons.  To-day,  the  ground  being  favourable,  little 
time  has  been  lost  in  preparing  the  road,  so  that  he  and 
his  pioneers  are  at  the  nooning  place  an  hour  in  ad- 
vance of  the  wagons,  which  time  is  spent  in  preparing 
convenient  watering  places  for  the  animals,  and  dig- 
ging little  wells  near  the  bank  of  the  Platte.  As  the 
teams  are  not  unyoked,  but  simply  turned  loose  from 
the  wagons,  a  corral  is  not  formed  at  noon,  but  the 
wagons  are  drawn  up  in  columns,  four  abreast,  the 
leading  wagon  of  each  platoon  on  the  left,  the  platoons 
being  formed  with  that  in  view.  This  brings  friends 
together  at  noon  as  well  as  at  night. 

Session  of  the  "  council."  "  To-day  an  extra  ses- 
sion of  the  council  is  being  held,  to  settle  a  dispute  that 
does  not  admit  of  delay,  between  a  proprietor  and  a 
young  man  who  has  undertaken  to  do  a  man's  service 
on  the  journey  for  bed  and  board.  Many  such  cases 
exist,  and  much  interest  is  taken  in  the  manner  in  which 
this  high  court,  from  which  there  is  no  appeal,  will 
define  the  rights  of  each  party  in  such  engagements. 


The  First  Great  Migration  153 

The  council  was  a  high  court  in  the  most  exalted  sense. 
It  was  a  senate  composed  of  the  ablest  and  most  re- 
spected fathers  of  the  emigration.  It  exercised  both 
legislative  and  judicial  powers,  and  its  laws  and  de- 
cisions proved  equal,  and  worthy  of  the  high  trust  re- 
posed in  it,  .  .  . 

The  drowsy  afternoon.  "  It  is  now  one  o'clock ; 
the  bugle  has  sounded  and  the  caravan  has  resumed  its 
westward  journey.  It  is  in  the  same  order,  but  the 
evening  is  far  less  animated  than  the  morning  march. 
A  drowsiness  has  fallen  apparently  on  man  and  beast ; 
teamsters  drop  asleep  on  their  perches,  and  even  when 
walking  by  their  teams;  and  the  words  of  command 
are  now  addressed  to  the  slowly  creeping  oxen  in  the 
soft  tenor  of  women  or  the  piping  treble  of  children, 
while  the  snores  of  the  teamsters  make  a  droning  ac- 
companiment. .  .  . 

Forming  the  evening  camp ;  nightfall.  "  The  sun 
is  now  getting  low  in  the  west,  and  at  length  the  pains- 
taking pilot  is  standing  ready  to  conduct  the  train  in 
the  circle  which  he  has  previously  measured  and  marked 
out,  which  is  to  form  the  invariable  fortification  for  the 
night.  The  leading  wagons  follow  him  so  nearly 
around  the  circle  that  but  a  wagon  length  separates 
them.  Each  wagon  follows  in  its  track,  the  rear  clos- 
ing on  the  front,  until  its  tongue  and  ox  chains  will 
perfectly  reach  from  one  to  the  other;  and  so  accurate 
[is]  the  measure  and  perfect  the  practice,  that  the  hind- 
most wagon  of  the  train  always  precisely  closes  the 
gateway.     As  each  wagon  is  brought  into  position  it 


154       ^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

is  dropped  from  its  team  (the  teams  being  inside  the 
circle),  the  team  is  unyoked,  and  the  yoke  and  chains 
are  used  to  connect  the  wagon  strongly  with  that  in 
its  front.  Within  ten  minutes  from  the  time  the  lead- 
ing wagon  halted,  the  barricade  is  formed,  the  teams 
unyoked  and  driven  out  to  pasture.  Every  one  is  busy 
preparing  fires  ...  to  cook  the  evening  meal,  pitching 
tents  and  otherwise  preparing  for  the  night.  .  .  ." 
The  watches  "  begin  at  eight  o'clock  p.m.  and  end  at 
four  o'clock  A.M." 

Arrival  at  Fort  Hall,  August  27.  The  daily  rou- 
tine, here  so  graphically  described,  must  have  become 
extremely  wearisome  to  the  pioneers  and  their  families 
after  a  few  months  spent  upon  the  dusty,  dreary 
"  trail."  At  the  end  of  ninety-eight  days,  on  the  27th 
of  August,  the  company  reached  Fort  Hall,  the  trading 
post  built  by  Wyeth  in  1832  and  afterwards  sold  to  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  which  had  become  a  famous 
way  station  on  the  overland  route.  They  were  now  on 
the  eastern  border  of  the  Oregon  country,  and  two- 
thirds  of  the  distance  to  the  Willamette  had  been 
traversed.  The  hardships  already  endured  from 
storm,  flood,  and  the  unavoidable  mishaps  of  the  long 
journey  across  the  plains  were  very  great;  yet  all  were 
aware  that  the  most  difficult  portion  of  the  trip  was  still 
before  them.  Thus  far  the  road  had  been  compara- 
tively good ;  at  least,  the  wagons  always  had  a  well- 
marked  trail  to  follow.  But  this  practically  terminated 
at  Fort  Hall,  which  was  connected  with  the  lower 
country  by  only  a  pack  trail.     No  loaded  wagons  had 


Tlie  dccp-worn  Oregon  trail  as  it  looked  in  1900 


The  First  Great  Migration  155 

ever  passed  the  fort,  and  when  the  pioneers  set  out 
from  their  homes  in  the  spring  it  was  generally  under- 
stood that  the  wagon  road  ended  at  this  place.  How- 
ever, they  soon  found  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
secure  enough  pack  horses  to  carry  their  families  and 
property  to  the  Columbia,  as  the  small  parties  of  pre- 
vious years  had  done,  and  so  it  became  necessary  to  go 
forward  with  the  wagons  at  all  hazards.  The  company 
was  large,  they  could  send  roadmakers  ahead  to  pre- 
pare the  way,  and  might  be  able  to  overcome  even  the 
worst  difficulties  by  united  effort.  Besides,  they  had 
with  them  Dr.  Whitman  of  the  Walla  Walla  mission, 
who  had  taken  his  light  wagon,  without  a  load,  as  far 
as  Fort  Boise  in  1836,  and  who  knew  more  about  the 
possibility  of  opening  a  wagon  trail  through  the  region 
still  to  be  traversed  than  any  of  the  other  men.  Whit- 
man felt  certain  they  could  succeed,  urged  the  com- 
pany to  make  the  venture,  and  offered  to  act  as  guide. 
His  services  to  the  emigrants  from  Fort  Hall  west- 
ward were  very  great,  and  are  remembered  with  grati- 
tude by  the  early  pioneers  of  the  Northwest. 

From  Fort  Hall  to  Waiilatpu  down  the  Columbia. 
They  left  Fort  Hall  on  the  30th  of  August,  passed  Fort 
Boise  September  20,  and  ten  days  later  came  in  sight 
of  the  Grand  Ronde,  the  famous  circular  valley  of  the 
Blue  Mountains.  Its  peaceful  beauties  are  said  to  have 
so  impressed  the  travellers,  after  the  toils  and  hardships 
of  the  days  spent  in  the  desert,  that  some  broke  into 
tears  of  joy  as  they  looked  down  upon  it  from  the  high 
plateau  above.     Ten  days  later  they   reached   Whit- 


156      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

man's  station,  where  many  of  them  bought  supplies  of 
wheat  and  potatoes  for  the  trip  to  western  Oregon.  A 
portion  of  the  emigrants  arranged  to  leave  their  cattle 
in  the  Walla  Walla  valley ;  some  drove  herds  overland ; 
while  the  families,  the  wagons,  and  other  property  were 
taken  down  the  Columbia  in  boats  and  rafts.  By  the 
end  of  November  all  had  reached  the  Willamette 
valley.* 

1  Most  of  the  sources  from  which  this  account  of  the  great 
emigration  is  written  were  discovered  by  the  writer  while  search- 
ing through  hies  of  old  newspapers  preserved  at  Madison,  Wis- 
consin, St.  Louis  and  Columbia,  Missouri.  A  portion  of  the 
matter  thus  found  has  been  reprinted  in  the  Quarterly  of  the 
Oregon  Historical  Society,  where  it  can  be  conveniently  referred 
to.  The  most  important  single  source  for  the  journey  is  the 
Burnett  Herald  letters,  reprinted  in  the  Quarterly  for  December, 
1902.  A  series  of  other  short  letters  appears  in  the  Quarterly  for 
June,  1903,  and  still  others  in  several  recent  numbers. 


'CHAPTER  XI 

THE   FIRST   AMERICAN   GOVERNMENT   ON    THE   PACIFIC 

Importance  of  the  emigration  of  1843.  The  emi- 
gration whose  organization  and  movements  have  just 
been  described  marks  a  new  starting  point  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Northwest.  Up  to  this  time  we  have  been 
dealing  with  events  which  may  be  looked  upon  as  in- 
troductory; now  we  begin  actually  to  see  the  process 
of  state  building  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific.  Just  as 
in  Virginia  the  colony  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been 
planted  prior  to  the  arrival  of  Delaware's  party  in 
1 6 10;  as  in  Massachusetts  it  was  the  great  company 
brought  out  by  Winthrop  in  1630  which  firmly  estab- 
lished the  English  people,  although  the  beginnings  of 
settlement  already  existed;  so  on  the  Pacific  coast  the 
emigration  of  1843  closes  the  period  of  experiment, 
and  gives  us  a  true,  self-supporting  American  colony. 
In  the  present  chapter  we  shall  do  scarcely  more  than 
point  out  some  of  the  changes  produced  in  Oregon  dur- 
ing the  succeeding  three  years  as  a  result  of  this  influx 
of  new  people. 

Beginnings  of  the  agitation  for  a  government. 
The  earliest  attempts  to  form  a  provisional  government 
for  the  Willamette  colony  were  made  several  years 
prior  to  1843;  but,  as  we  shall  see,  the  organization 

157 


158       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

was  not  put  into  effective  operation  till  after  the  new 
immigrants  arrived.  When  our  people  began  going 
to  the  country  there  were  no  American  laws  to  control 
their  actions,  and  no  government  whatever  except  that 
which  was  exercised  over  British  subjects  by  officers 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  The  missionaries  in 
the  Willamette  valley,  and  the  other  settlers  who  gradu- 
ally collected  there,  regarded  this  as  one  of  their  prin- 
cipal grievances,  and  repeatedly  petitioned  Congress 
to  extend  the  laws  of  the  United  States  over  them. 
But,  as  we  have  seen,  that  body  could  not  be  induced  to 
take  any  action.  In  1840,  with  the  arrival  of  the 
Lausanne  company  and  the  Rocky  Mountain  trappers 
of  that  year,  the  American  party  felt  greatly  strength- 
ened and  began  to  talk  of  organizing  a  provisional  or 
temporary  government  on  their  own  account,  in  the 
expectation  of  giving  it  up  whenever  the  United  States 
should  be  prepared  to  extend  its  authority  over  the 
country.  The  French  settlers,  however,  being  attached 
to  the  fur  company,  remained  satisfied  with  conditions 
as  they  were. 

The  first  step  toward  an  organization,  1841. 
Early  in  1841  an  incident  occurred  which  brought  out 
sharply  the  need  of  some  regular  authority,  and  set  in 
motion  plans  to  secure  a  political  organization.  Ewing 
Young,  the  pioneer  stockman  of  the  \\^illamette  valley, 
whose  connection  with  the  cattle  company  has  already 
been  described,  in  the  course  of  nine  years'  residence  in 
the  country,  had  become  possessed  of  a  large  herd  of 
cattle  and  considerable  other  property.     In  February 


First  American  Government  on  the  Pacific      159 

of  this  year  he  died,  without  making  any  provision  by 
will  for  the  disposition  of  his  estate,  and  so  far  as 
known  leaving  no  heir.  His  neighbours  were  naturally 
very  much  interested  in  the  case,  and  it  is  claimed  that 
those  who  gathered  at  Young's  funeral  issued  a  call 
for  a  general  meeting  to  consider  what  was  to  be  done 
with  this  property.  On  the  17th  of  February,  when 
the  public  meeting  occurred,  resolutions  were  offered 
providing  for  a  committee  to  draft  a  constitution  and 
laws.  This  body  was  selected  on  the  i8th,  and  besides 
the  settlers  chose  Dr.  Ira  L.  Babcock  of  the  Methodist 
mission  to  be  supreme  judge  with  probate  powers. 
They  provided  also  for  a  clerk  of  courts  and  recorder, 
a  high  sheriff,  and  three  constables.  The  meeting  then 
adjourned  to  the  second  Tuesday  in  June.  Dr.  Bab- 
cock, on  the  15th  of  April,  appointed  an  administrator 
for  Ewing  Young's  property,  this  being,  it  is  believed, 
the  first  official  act  of  the  Oregon  provisional  govern- 
ment. 

The  plan  miscarries.  When  the  June  meeting  took 
place  it  was  found  that  the  committee  appointed  to 
draft  a  constitution  and  laws  had  done  nothing,  not 
even  so  much  as  to  meet  for  consultation.  The  reason 
was  plain  enough.  In  their  anxiety  to  gain  the  support 
of  the  French  settlers  the  missionary  party,  which  con- 
trolled the  earlier  meetings,  had  succeeded  in  making 
the  Catholic  Father  Blanchet,  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee. But  he  refused  to  take  any  interest  in  the 
matter  and  failed  to  call  the  committee  together.  Blan- 
chet now  resigned,  and  his  place  being  filled  by  an 


i6o       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

American  it  seemed  that  something  would  probably 
be  done.  The  committee  was  instructed  to  meet  on  a 
particular  day  and  report  to  a  meeting  of  the  settlers 
set  for  October.  But  a  new  obstacle  appeared  in  the 
person  of  Lieutenant  Wilkes,  who  showed  himself  de- 
cidedly opposed  to  the  plan  of  a  provisional  govern- 
ment. The  result  was  that  the  whole  matter  was 
dropped  for  more  than  a  year. 

The  question,  resumed  in  1843;  the  "wolf  meet- 
ing." In  the  fall  of  1842  Dr.  White  arrived  as  In- 
dian agent,  bringing  his  company  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  new  settlers.  Although  the  French  party  had 
also  been  strengthened,  it  now  appeared  to  some  of  the 
Americans  that  the  time  for  action  had  come.  The 
matter  was  discussed  during  the  winter,  and  with  the 
approach  of  spring  a  favourable  opportunity  arose  to  se- 
cure a  public  meeting.  The  settlers'  herds  had  suffered 
much  from  the  ravages  of  wild  beasts,  an  evil  which 
called  for  some  means  of  exterminating  the  forest  foes. 
On  the  2d  of  February,  1843,  a  group  of  persons  gath- 
ered at  the  Oregon  Institute  appointed  a  committee  to 
"notify  a  general  meeting,"  which  was  held  on  the 
second  Monday  of  March.  The  committee  was  pre- 
pared with  resolutions  advising  that  bounties  be  paid 
for  killing  wolves,  lynxes,  bears,  and  panthers;  that  a 
subscription  fund  be  raised  for  that  purpose ;  and  that 
officers  be  appointed  to  manage  the  business.  These 
being  adopted,  the  more  important  and  interesting  reso- 
lution was  offered,  "  That  a  committee  [of  twelve]  be 
appointed  to  take  into  consideration  the  propriety  of 


First  American  Government  on  the  Pacific      i6i 

taking  steps  for  the  civil  and  military  protection  of  the 
colony."  ^  This  also  received  a  favourable  vote,  and 
now  the  plan  to  create  a  provisional  government  was 
fully  launched. 

The  provisional  government  voted  at  Champoeg, 
May  2,  1843.  Only  two  months  were  allowed  to  in- 
tervene between  the  appointment  of  the  committee 
and  the  meeting  to  consider  its  report.  It  was  a  time 
of  great  political  activity  in  the  settlement.  The 
French  people  were  still  generally  opposed  to  the 
scheme  and  were  encouraged  in  their  opposition  by 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  There  was  much  uncer- 
tainty in  the  minds  of  the  settlers  as  they  gathered  at 
Champoeg  on  the  2d  of  May.  The  committee,  how- 
ever, reported  in  favour  of  establishing  a  government. 
When  a  motion  was  made  to  adopt  this  report,  the 
vote  was  very  close  and  some  one  called  for  a  division 
of  the  house.  At  this  point  arose  the  stalwart  figure 
of  "  Joe  "  Meek,  one  of  the  most  picturesque  of  the 
"  mountain  men,"  and  a  person  of  considerable  influ- 
ence among  certain  classes  in  the  community.  Step- 
ping out  grandly  in  front  of  the  crowd  of  excited  men 
he  shouted:  "  Who's  for  a  divide?  All  in  favour  of 
the  report  and  of  an  organization,  follow  me."  The 
count  was  made,  we  are  told,  after  half  an  hour  of 
the  greatest  confusion,  and  resulted  in  fifty-two  (52) 
votes  in  favour  and  of  fifty  (50)  against  the  resolu- 

^  This  resolution  was  proposed  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Gray,  who  was 
then  living  in  the  Willamette  valley,  and  who  bore  a  prominent 
part  in  the  affairs  of  the  colony  at  this  time. 


1 62       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

tion.     So  the  project  to  organize  a  provisional  gov- 
ernment was  carried. 

Election  of  officers;  the  July  meeting.  The  of- 
ficers recommended  by  the  committee  were  chosen  be- 
fore the  adjournment.  They  were  a  supreme  judge, 
a  clerk  and  recorder,  a  high  sheriff  (Joe  Meek  was 
very  properly  elected  to  this  post),  three  magistrates, 
three  constables,  a  major  and  three  captains  of  militia. 
A  legislative  committee  composed  of  nine  members 
was  also  chosen  at  this  meeting,  and  instructed  to  re- 
port a  code  of  laws  to  be  voted  on  by  the  people  July 
5.  The  pioneers  who  gathered  at  Champoeg  to  hear 
a  Fourth  of  July  address  by  Rev.  Gustavus  Hines  re- 
mained over  to  the  next  day  and  ratified  the  provisions 
of  tlie  so-called  First  Organic  Law.^ 

A  government  by  "  compact."  "  We  the  people 
of  Oregon  Territory,"  so  the  preamble  of  this  famous 
document  recites,  "  for  purposes  of  mutual  protection, 
and  to  secure  peace  and  prosperity  among  ourselves, 
agree  to  adopt  the  following  laws  and  regulations  until 
such  time  as  the  United  States  of  America  extend 
their  jurisdiction  over  us."  Here  we  have  another 
illustration  of  the  well-known  American  method  of 
forming  a  government  by  "  compact,"  or  agreement. 
Two  hundred  and  twenty-three  years  earlier,  when  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  met  to  draw  up  their  "  Mayflower 

iThis  document,  as  well  as  the  provisional  constitution  of 
1845,  may  be  conveniently  found  in  Strong  and  Schafer's  "Gov- 
ernment of  the  American  People,"  Oregon  edition,  Boston,  igoi, 
Appendix. 


First  American   Government  on  the  Pacific      163 

Compact,"  this  principle  was  employed  for  the  first 
time  in  American  history,  and  soon  afterward  the 
early  colonists  of  Connecticut  followed  it  in  their 
"  Fundamental  Orders."  When,  at  a  later  time, 
American  pioneers  crossed  the  Alleghenies  to  eastern 
Tennessee,  and  found  themselves  beyond  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  any  seaboard  state,  they  formed  the  **  Watauga 
Association."  Similar  pioneer  governments  wei^e 
created  in  Kentucky,  on  the  Cumberland  River,  and 
elsewhere.  ■*  The  Willamette  settlers  were  following 
in  the  footsteps  of  their  ancestors. 

The  emigration  of  1843  saves  the  provisional  gov- 
ernment. The  work  of  the  pioneers  at  Champoeg 
was  of  considerable  importance  in  the  history  of  Ore- 
gon and  the  Pacific  coast;  for  it  called  the  attention  of 
men  everywhere  to  the  American  colony  in  this  region ; 
it  quickened  the  interest  of  the  United  States  govern- 
ment; and  announced  to  Great  Britain  that  her  sub- 
jects were  no  longer  completely  dominant  in  the 
Pacific  Northwest.  Yet,  while  the  Americans  then  in 
the  country  deserve  credit  for  taking  the  first  steps, 
these  results  were  largely  due  to  the  appearance 
of  the  great  emigration  in  the  fall.  It  changed  the 
small  American  majority  into  an  overwhelming  one; 
provided  able  political  leaders,  like  Burnett,  Apple- 
gate,  McCarver,  Nesmith,  Waldo,  and  Lovejoy;  in- 
creased the  property  of  the  country;  and  gave  a  feel- 

^  The  people  of  Vermont,  for  example,  had  a  government  of 
their  own,  created  by  compact  or  agreement  among  themselves, 
for  fourteen  years  before  the  state  was  admitted  to  the  Union. 


164       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

ing  of  security  and  stability  which  only  numbers  can 
impart. 

Governmental  improvements  made  in  1 844-1 845. 
The  government  as  adopted  in  July,  1843,  while  prob- 
ably the  best  that  could  then  be  secured,  was  in  some 
respects  very  weak.  Instead  of  a  governor  there  was 
to  be  an  executive  committee  of  three.  The  land  law, 
which  was  of  greater  interest  to  most  of  the  settlers 
than  any  other  feature,  was  especially  defective,  be- 
cause it  allowed  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  missions 
to  claim  each  an  entire  township,  aside  from  the  land 
their  members  held  as  individual  settlers.  Lastly, 
there  was  no  way  to  raise  money  for  the  support  of 
the  government  except  by  private  contributions,  a 
thoroughly  inefficient  and  always  disappointing 
method.  The  legislative  committee  of  1844,  made  up 
mainly  of  the  newcomers,  on  their  own  responsibility, 
revised  the  entire  system,  providing  for  a  governor,  a 
house  of  representatives,  a  more  satisfactory  judiciary, 
a  new  land  law  permitting  none  but  actual  settlers  to 
hold  claims,  and  above  all  a  means  of  raising  taxes  to 
support  the  government.  This  last  was  the  keystone 
of  their  political  arch,  as  the  leaders  well  knew,  and 
they  w^ere  wise  enough  to  fit  it  exactly  to  its  purpose. 
The  law  required  that  every  settler's  property  should 
be  assessed  on  a  regular  basis,  and  in  case  any  one  re- 
fused to  pay  the  tax  apportioned  to  him,  he  was  to 
lose  the  right  to  vote  and  all  other  benefits  of  the  gov- 
ernment. If  his  claim  were  jumped,  the  court  could 
not  relieve  him;  if  a  thief  were  to  drive  off  his  cattle 


First  American  Government  on  the  Pacific      165 

or  slaughter  them  in  the  pasture,  the  sheriff  and  the 
constables  would  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  his  appeal  for 
lielp.     He  would  become  an  outlaw. 

The  reform  of  1844  fails  to  satisfy.  The  govern- 
mental reform  of  1844,  while  effective  in  certain  re- 
spects, created  another  political  agitation  in  the  Ore- 
gon colony.  Some  no  doubt  were  alarmed  at  the  very 
success  of  the  new  law  relating  to  taxation.  Others 
felt  aggrieved  over  the  alteration  in  the  land  laws. 
Still  others  professed  to  feel  outraged  because  the 
legislative  committee  failed  to  extend  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  provisional  government  over  that  part  of  Ore- 
gon lying  north  of  the  Columbia.  They  raised  against 
the  committee  the  charge  of  a  want  of  patriotism.  In 
fact,  Dr.  McLoughlin  reported  that  a  party  among  the 
settlers  wished  to  establish  an  Oregon  or  Pacific  State 
which  should  be  independent  of  both  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain.  Still  others  found  serious  fault 
with  the  manner  in  which  the  committee  had  wrought 
these  profound  changes.  They  had  set  aside  an  or- 
ganic or  fundamental  law  adopted  by  the  people  them- 
selves without  so  much  as  saying  "  by  your  leave," 
and  had  created  virtually  a  new  constitution  as  well  as 
a  new  legal  code  without  submitting  any  portion  of 
their  work  to  the  people  for  acceptance  or  rejection. 
In  a  word,  the  legislative  committee  had  enacted  a  po- 
litical revolution,  a  thing  dangerous  in  itself  and,  by 
the  reaction  it  was  bound  to  engender,  likely  to  prove 
disastrous  to  the  colonv. 

The  revision  of  1845.     The  Legislative  Committee 


1 66      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

of  1845,  headed  by  Jesse  Applegate,  resolved  upon  a 
thorough-going  revision  of  the  government.  They 
presented  to  the  people  a  choice  between  the  funda- 
mental law  adopted  in  1843,  ^^^  ^  revised  draft,  much 
improved  in  literary  style  and  in  completeness,  which 
had  been  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Applegate.  The  people  bal- 
loted and  adopted  the  revised  draft  by  a  very  large  ma- 
jority. They  also  continued  the  committee  in  office. 
Then  the  Legislative  Committee  reconvened,  passed 
necessary  laws,  and  adjourned. 

Thus  the  political  problem  in  Oregon  was  settled. 
The  constitution,  based  on  compact,  was  similar  in 
form  to  the  constitution  of  an  American  state.  It 
established  a  good  government, —  firm,  just,  and  effect- 
ive in  all  its  departments.  The  settlers  supposed  it 
was  to  last  only  a  few  months,  believing  the  United 
States  was  about  to  take  control  of  the  country;  but  in 
fact  this  event  did  not  occur  till  nearly  four  years  later. 
In  the  meantime  there  was  no  reasonable  cause  of  com- 
plaint against  the  government  maintained  by  the 
sturdy,  sober,  order-loving  pioneers  themselves. 

Effect  of  the  great  migration  on  later  emigra- 
tions. While  these  political  matters  were  being  set- 
tled, western  Oregon  was  filling  up  with  new  people 
whose  coming  was  due  very  largely  to  the  success  of  the 
1843  emigration.  When  that  company  started,  many 
thousands  of  people  followed  their  movements  with 
anxiety,  not  a  few  regarded  them  as  foolish  adven- 
turers, and  Horace  Greeley  declared  :  "  This  emigra- 
tion of  more  than  a  thousand  persons  in  one  body  to 


JESSE  APPLEGATE 
A  splendid  type  of  the  pioneer  state  builder 


First  American  Government  on  the  Pacific      167 

Oregon  wears  an  aspect  of  insanity."  ^  When  they 
reached  the  Columbia  in  safety,  proving  that  loaded 
wagons  could  be  taken  through  without  serious  diffi- 
culty, a  great  change  instantly  came  over  the  thought 
of  the  country  with  respect  to  Oregon.  It  was  a 
startling  thing  to  eastern  people  to  be  told,  by  a  man 
who  had  made  the  trip,  "You  can  move  here  [from 
Missouri]  with  less  expense  than  you  could  to  Ten- 
nessee or  Kentucky."  Moreover,  many  prominent 
pioneers  wrote  home  giving  favourable  accounts  of  the 
country.  Burnett  said,  "If  man  cannot  supply  all  his 
wants  here,  he  cannot  anywhere."  Another  declared : 
"  The  prospect  is  quite  good  for  a  young  man  to  make 
a  fortune  in  this  country,  as  all  kinds  of  produce  are 
high  and  likely  to  remain  so  from  the  extensive  de- 
mand. The  Russian  settlements  in  Asia  [Alaska?], 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  a  great  portion  of  California, 
and  the  whaling  vessels  of  the  Northwest  coast  pro- 
cure their  supplies  from  this  place."  McCarver 
found  "  the  soil  of  this  valley  .  .  .  equal  to  that  of 
Iowa  or  any  other  portion  of  the  United  States ;  .  .  •" 
and  T.  B.  Wood  wrote,  "  The  prairies  of  this  region 
are  .  .  .  equal  to  any  in  Missouri  or  Illinois."  Such 
letters  were  commonly  printed,  first  in  the  local  paper 

1  New  York  Tribune,  July  22,  1843.  He  feared  that  their 
provisions  would  give  out,  their  stock  perish  for  want  of  grass 
and  water,  their  children  and  women  starve.  "  For  what,"  ex- 
claimed Mr.  Greeley,  "  do  they  brave  the  desert,  the  wilderness, 
the  savage,  the  snowy  precipices  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  the 
weary  summer  march,  the  storm-drenched  bivouac  and  the  gnaw- 
ings  of  famine?  " 


1 68       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

of  some  western  town,  then  in  the  more  widely  read 
journals  of  the  country,  with  the  result  that  Oregon 
took  its  place  in  the  popular  mind  by  the  side  of  Wis- 
consin, Iowa,  and  Texas,  as  a  territory  possessing  at- 
tractions for  the  home  seeker. 

The  emigration  of  1844.  The  emigrating  com- 
pany of  1844  numbered  about  fourteen  hundred.  The 
parties  reached  the  Missouri  frontier  early  in  the 
spring  and  set  out  in  good  time.  But  the  wetness  of 
the  season  caused  many  delays,  so  that  they  reached 
the  western  slope  very  late,  and  mostly  in  want  of  pro- 
visions. A  small  party  was  hurried  forward  to  bring 
supplies  from  the  Willamette  valley,  some  bought  food 
of  the  missionaries  on  the  Walla  Walla,  and  even  of 
the  Indians,  and  finally,  late  in  the  fall,  most  of  them 
reached  their  destination  in  a  sorry  state.  The  rains 
having  already  set  in,  there  was  no  chance  to  provide 
proper  shelter,  and  many  suffered  great  inconvenience, 
if  not  actual  hardship.  The  earlier  settlers  were 
forced  to  listen  to  a  good  deal  of  repining  from  the 
newcomers ;  but,  as  one  of  them  wTote,  this  "  only 
lasted  during  the  winter.  In  the  spring,  when  the 
clouds  cleared  away,  and  the  grass  and  flowers  sprang 
up  beneath  the  kindling  rays  of  a  bright  Oregon  sun, 
their  spirits  revived  with  reviving  nature,  and  by  the 
succeeding  fall  they  had  themselves  become  old  settlers, 
and  formed  a  part  of  us,  their  views  and  feelings,  in 
the  meantime,  having  undergone  a  total  change."  ^ 

1  Quoted   from   Burnett's  "  Recollections   of  an  Old   Pioneer," 
New  York,  1880.    The  portion  of  this  book  relating  to  Oregon, 


First  American   Government  on  the  Pacific      169 

The  emigration  of  1845;  horrors  of  Meek's 
"cut-off."  h\  the  year  1845  Oregon  received  the 
largest  of  the  early  emigrations,  a  body  of  nearly 
three  thousand  people.  They  started,  not  in  a  single 
caravan  like  the  earlier  parties,  but  in  companies  of 
fifty,  seventy-five,  a  hundred,  or  two  hundred  wagons. 
All  went  well  till  after  they  passed  Fort  Boise,  where 
the  emigrants  encountered  Stephen  H.  L.  Meek,  who 
offered  to  guide  them  over  a  trail  by  way  of  the  Mal- 
heur River,  said  to  be  much  shorter  than  that  com- 
monly used.^  Unfortunately,  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  wagons  followed  him  into  the  most  barren  and 
desolate  country  that  eastern  Oregon  contains,  and 
where  as  it  proved  there  was  no  road  except  an  old 
pack  trail.  Stock  perished,  food  gave  out,  the  emi- 
grants became  desperate  in  their  anxiety  to  find  water. 
When  they  reached  a  little  oasis  in  the  desert,  they 
formed  a  camp,  while  mounted  men  to  the  number  of 
one  hundred  scoured  tlie  country  in  every  direction 
for  water,  only  to  return  at  nightfall  without  finding  it. 
This  was  continued  for  several  days  in  succession. 
Meantime  the  children  and  the  weaker  adults  were  fall- 
ing sick,  and  many  of  them  were  dying.  In  the  midst 
of  this  despair  a  galloping  horseman  brought  the  glad 
news  of  the  discovery  of  water.  The  hated  guide  had 
found  it.     Grief  was  now  turned  to  joy ;  loud  shouts 

which  contains  a  larg:e  amount  of  valuable  matter  on  early  con- 
ditions, the  emigration  of  1843,  etc.,  has  been  reprinted  in  the 
Quarterly  of  the  Oregon   Historical   Society,  Vol.  V. 

^  Sixty   wagons   had   turned   off  at  Fort   Hall   to  go   to   Cali- 
fornia. 


170      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

rang  out;  there  was  laughing  and  clapping  of  hands. 
But  some  stood  reverently  silent,  with  bowed  heads 
and  eyes  brimming  over  with  tears  of  thankfulness. 
The  stream  found  proved  to  be  a  branch  of  the  Des 
Chutes  River,  along  the  course  of  which  the  travellers 
passed  down  to  the  Dalles,  whence  a  few  days  brought 
them  to  the  Willamette.  They  had  suffered  the  most 
terrible  agony  on  the  route,  wasted  forty  days  of 
precious  time,  and  worse  than  all,  lost  about  seventy- 
five  of  their  number.^  Those  emigrants  who  followed 
the  customary  route  entered  the  valley  at  the  usual 
time  without  serious  mishap. 

Population  of  Oregon;  its  distribution.  The 
population  of  Oregon,  which  was  doubled  by  the  ar- 
rival of  the  emigrants  of  1845,  now  numbered  about 
six  thousand,  settled  in  five  counties,  of  which  all  but 
one  were  in  the  Willamette  valley.  They  were  Yam- 
hill, Clackamas,  Tualatin,  Champoeg,  and  Clatsop. 
In  the  election  of  1845  the  total  vote  for  governor  was 
five  hundred  and  four.  The  following  year  it  was 
more  than  doubled,  and  a  new  county,  Polk,  had  been 
added  to  the  list  of  those  lying  south  of  the  Columbia, 
while  there  was  now  also  a  county,  named  Columbia, 
north  of  the  river. 

Origin  of  the  Puget  Sound  settlement.  The  new 
northern  county  has  its  explanation  partly  in  the  fact 
that  a  few  Americans  were  by  this  time  settled  on  the 
waters  of  Puget  Sound.     When  the  colonists  first  be- 

iThe  names  of  thirty-four,  nearly  all  adults,  were  printed  io 
the  eastern  papers  of  the  next  year. 


First  American  Goverjimcnt  on  the  Pacific      171 

gan  coming  to  Oregon  they  were  usually  dependent 
on  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  for  supplies,  stock, 
tools,  and  in  general  everything  necessary  to  start 
them  in  farming.  McLoughlin,  believing  that  Great 
Britain  would  at  last  come  into  possession  of  the  re- 
gion north  of  the  Columbia,  tried  to  prevent  American 
settlers  from  taking  claims  on  that  side  of  the  river, 
directing  them  all  to  the  Willamette.  For  a  time  this 
plan  worked  well,  but  when  the  best  lands  of  the  valley 
were  all  taken  up,  and  Americans  became  so  numerous 
in  the  country  as  to  feel  somewhat  independent  of  the 
fur  company,  a  few  pioneers  began  to  think  of  taking 
claims  north  of  the  river.  Of  the  party  which  arrived 
in  the  fall  of  1844  a  few  men,  under  the  lead  of  M.  T. 
Simmons,  tried  to  reach  Puget  Sound  overland,  but 
failing,  returned  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Vancouver, 
where  they  spent  the  winter.  The  following  summer 
Simmons  started  out  once  more,  with  six  companions, 
made  his  way  up  the  Cowlitz  to  the  head  of  naviga- 
tion, and  then  westward  to  the  lower  end  of  the 
Sound.  One  of  their  fellow-emigrants  of  the  previous 
year,  John  R.  Jackson,  was  already  established  in  a 
cabin  on  the  highland  north  of  the  Cowlitz,  and  the 
pioneers  also  saw  the  large  farm  opened  some  years 
before  by  the  Puget  Sound  Agricultural  Company,  a 
branch  of  the  fur  company.  They  were  delighted 
with  the  prospects  of  the  Puget  Sound  country,  with 
its  splendid  opportunities  for  commerce  and  manufac- 
tories; and  returning  for  his  family,  Simmons  settled, 
in  October,  on  a  claim  near  the  site  of  Olympia.     Four 


172       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

other  families  and  two  single  men  took  claims  in  the 
same  neighbourhood,  and  thus  was  the  foundation  laid 
for  a  new  community  in  the  north. 

The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  accepts  the  protec- 
tion of  the  provisional  government.  While  these 
sturdy  frontiersmen  were  hewing  a  road  through  the 
jungle  north  of  Cowlitz  Landing,  the  settlers  in  the 
Willamette  were  winning  their  greatest  political  vic- 
tory by  inducing  the  officers  of  the  fur  company  to 
bring  themselves,  their  people,  and  all  the  property  of 
the  organization  under  the  protection  of  the  provi- 
sional government.  This  was  achieved  on  the  15th  of 
August.  The  monopoly,  which  had  dominated  the 
affairs  of  the  Northwest  for  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
had  at  last  sunk  to  a  subordinate  position;  and  the 
Oregon  question,  so  far  as  control  of  the  country  it- 
self was  concerned,  had  been  settled  by  the  pioneers.^ 

1  McLoughlin  made  a  special  arrangement  with  the  officers  of 
the  government,  whereby  the  company  was  to  be  taxed  only  on 
the  merchandise  which  it  sold  to  settlers.  Jesse  Applegate  is  the 
man  who  negotiated  this  important  agreement. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   OREGON    BOUNDARY   SETTLED 

We  have  seen  how  George  Canning  in  1824  fixed 
the  British  Oregon  policy  by  demanding  the  Colum- 
bia as  a  boundary  from  its  mouth  to  the  forty-ninth 
parallel.  He  was  willing,  indeed,  to  concede  to  the 
United  States  free  ports  on  DeFuca's  Strait,  and  even 
a  small,  detached  portion  of  territory  with  ports  north 
of  the  Columbia.  But  he  would  not  hear  of  extend- 
ing the  forty-ninth  parallel  as  the  boundary  westward 
from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  sea. 

Ashburton's  instructions;  the  Ashburton-Web- 
ster  negotiations.  On  the  rock  of  Canning's  policy, 
or  that  of  the  United  States  based  upon  the  forty- 
ninth  parallel,  the  negotiations  of  1824  and  of  1826-7 
came  to  grief.  No  new  effort  was  made  to  solve  the 
boundary  problem  till  1842,  when  Lord  Ashburton 
was  sent  to  the  United  States  as  special  commissioner 
to  settle  with  Secretary  of  State  Daniel  Webster  all 
causes  of  dispute  between  the  two  countries.  Ash- 
burton's main  purpose  was  to  settle  the  northeastern 
boundary,  between  Maine  and  Canada,  the  dispute  over 
which  had  become  especially  dangerous  because  con- 
flicts had  broken  out  between  British  subjects  and 
American  citizens  in  the  disputed  territory.     But  Ash- 

173 


y 


174      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northmest 

burton  was  instructed  to  settle  the  less  impor^nt  ques- 
tion relating  to  Oregon  provided  this  could  be  done  in 
a  manner  satisfactory  to  Great  Britain.  There  is  no 
evidence  that  Lord  Aberdeen,  British  Secretary  for 
Foreign  Aflfairs,  made  an  independent  study  of  the 
Oregon  question  at  this  time.  It  seems,  rather,  that  in 
his  instructions  to  Ashburton  he  simply  followed  in 
the  footsteps  of  Canning.  In  any  event,  the  conces- 
sions Ashburton  was  permitted  to  make  were  those 
Canning  had  offered ;  the  boundary  he  might  agree  to 
was  the  Canning  boundary  along  the  Columbia  and  the 
forty-ninth  parallel.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  in- 
structed to  reject,  outright,  the  thrice  offered  Ameri- 
can boundary,  along  the  forty-ninth  parallel  to  the 
sea. 

Webster  desired  Northern  California.  When 
Webster  and  Ashburton  reached  the  Oregon  question 
in  their  discussions  it  seemed  at  first  as  if  a  chance 
of  agreement  existed.  For,  although  Webster  com- 
plained that  the  Columbia  boundary,  demanded  by 
Ashburton,  would  leave  the  United  States  without  a 
good  harbour  on  the  Pacific  coast,  he  yet  suggested 
that  the  matter  might  be  adjusted  provided  the  United 
States  could  secure  from  Mexico  Northern  California 
together  with  the  great  harbour  of  San  Francisco. 

Did  he  mean  to  exchange  Northern  Oregon  for 
Northern  California?  This  remark  of  Mr.  Webster, 
which  was  reported  by  Ashburton  to  Lord  Aberdeen, 
seems  to  indicate  that  Webster  would  have  been  willing 
to  abandon  Northern  Oregon.     But  Webster  later  de- 


The  Oregon  Boundary  Settled  175 

clared  that  at  no  time  had  he  been  prepared  to  accept  a 
boundary  less  favourable  than  the  forty-ninth  par- 
allel. Hence,  if  he  was  willing  to  give  up  our  claim 
to  Northern  Oregon  at  all,  we  must  infer  that  he  would 
have  yielded  it  only  in  exchange  for  something  he 
deemed  more  valuable  to  the  United  States,  and  pos- 
sibly he  thought  Northern  California  would  be  more 
valuable.  But  California  belonged  to  Mexico  and 
could  be  secured  by  treaty  with  IMexico,  not  by  treaty 
with  Britain.  Why,  then,  did  Webster  mention  this 
matter  to  Ashburton?  To  this  question  one  answer  is, 
that  Webster  was  willing  to  receive  from  the  British 
government  a  tender  of  their  good  offices  with  Mexico 
to  induce  her  to  sell  Northern  California  to  the  United 
States.  Had  Britain  responded  in  this  way,  and  had 
she  secured  Mexico's  consent  to  the  transfer,  it  is  pos- 
sible that  Webster  would  have  been  willing  to  sign  a 
treaty  giving  Britain  the  Oregon  boundary  she  de- 
sired. Since  Ashburton  merely  answered  that  Britain 
would  make  no  objection  to  our  acquisition  of  North- 
ern California,  but  assumed  no  responsibility  in  the 
matter,  Webster  refused  to  discuss  the  Oregon  boun- 
dary question  further  at  that  time. 

Wilkes's  report.  Ashburton  concluded  that  the  re- 
turn of  Lieutenant  Charles  Wilkes  to  Washington 
from  his  famous  exploring  cruise  in  the  Pacific,  during 
which  he  had  visited  both  Oregon  and  California,  was 
the  cause  of  Webster's  loss  of  interest  in  the  Oregon 
boundary  settlement.  It  was  understood,  he  wrote, 
that  Wilkes  reported  very  unfavourably  upon  the  har- 


176      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

bour  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  where  he  lost  the 
ship  Peacock  ^  in  1841,  but  very  favourably  upon  the 
harbours    in    Puget    Sound.     We    now    know    that 
Wilkes  argued  against  giving  up  any  part  of  the  terri- 
tory west  of  the  Rockies  and  between  the  parallels  of 
42°  and  54°  40'.     He  insisted  on  the  advisability  of 
excluding  the  British  entirely.     His  reasons  were  that 
to  divide  the  territory  on  the  line  of  the  forty-ninth 
parallel  would  leave  Fraser  River  wholly  outside  our 
boundary ;  it  would  cut  off  the  middle  and  eastern  sec- 
tions  of  the  country  below  the   forty-ninth  parallel 
from  their  natural  source  of  supplies  of  timber;  and  it 
would  lead  to  commercial  and  boundary  disputes  with- 
out number.2     It  is  not  clear  that  this  report  influ- 
enced Webster  greatly,  though  it  probably  stimulated 
the  zeal  of  some  of  those  politicians  who  not  long 
afterward  began  to  clamour  for  "  Fifty-Four-Forty." 
However  that  may  be,  the  spring  of  1843  saw  the 
rise  of  a  remarkable  agitation  in  favour  of  the  Ameri- 
can occupation  of  "  the  whole  of  Oregon."     Behind 
the   movement   was   resentment   over   the   defeat   of 
Linn's    bill,    and    resentment    also    against    Secretary 
Webster  who,  it  was  rumoured,  was  willing  to  con- 
cede the  Columbia  boundary  to  Great  Britain  if  she 

1  Later,  he  had  some  thought  of  going  to  London  as  special 
commissioner  to  settle  the  question,  and  he  had  in  mind,  as  one 
plan,  the  so-called  "  tri-partite  "  idea,  namely :  an  arrangement  to 
be  entered  into  by  the  U.  S.  conjunction  with  Britain  and  Mexico 
by  which  he  should  secure  Northern  California  from  Mexico. 

2  See  Wilkes's  report  as  reprinted  in  Quarterly  of  the  Oregon 
Historical  Society,  v.  XII,  pp.  269-299. 


The  Oregon  Boundary  Settled  177 

would  persuade  or  coerce  Mexico  into  selling  us  Cali- 
fornia. Local  meetings  were  held  in  various  parts  of 
the  Mississippi  valley,  and  these  resulted  in  the  calling 
of  an  Oregon  convention  at  Cincinnati  in  July.  1843.^ 
Nearly  one  hundred  delegates  were  in  attendance,  and 
not  only  the  Mississippi  valley,  but  the  entire  country 
was  interested  in  their  proceedings. 

Origin  of  the  demand  for  54°  40'  as  the  northern 
boundary.  This  convention  adopted  resolutions  de- 
claring that  the  United  States  had  an  undoubted  right 
to  the  country  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  between 
the  parallel  of  42°  on  the  south  and  54°  40'  on  the 
north.  In  other  words,  the  line  established  in  1S24 
to  separate  American  interests  from  those  of  Russia 
was  regarded  as  the  rightful  northern  boundary  of  the 
United  States  in  the  Pacific  Northwest.  This  would 
have  shut  Great  Britain  out  from  the  territory  west  of 
the  Rockies,  notwithstanding  the  explorations  of  her 
Mackenzies,  her  Thompsons,  Cooks,  and  Vancouvers; 
and  would  have  left  no  beaver  ground  on  the  Pacific 
slope  for  her  traders,  who  had  controlled  the  com- 
merce of  that  region  for  thirty  years. 

Fifty-Four-Forty  or  Fight.  When  the  Demo- 
cratic convention  met  at  Baltimore  in  1844  and  nomi- 
nated James  K.  Polk  for  President,  it  was  the  western 

^  The  idea  of  a  Mississippi  valley  convention  to  consider  the 
Oregon  question  originated  at  Columbus,  Ohio.  The  Ohio  States- 
man for  this  period  is  the  best  source  of  information  on  the  entire 
movement.  Its  files  were  consulted  in  the  library  of  the  Wis- 
consin Historical  Society  at  ]\Iadison. 


178       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

influence  which  succeeded  in  making  the  Oregon  ques- 
tion a  feature  of  the  resolutions.     "  Fifty-Four-Forty 
or  Fight  "  was  not,  indeed,  a  plank  in  the  platform, 
though  it  became  in  some  quarters  a  campaign  slogan ; 
but  when  President  Polk,  in  his  inaugural  address,  de- 
clared his  belief  that  our  title  to  "  the  whole  of  Oregon 
was  clear  and  unquestionable  "  the  agitation  had  in- 
deed reached  its  logical  result.     The  government  was 
now  maintaining  the  extreme  claims  of  the  western  ex- 
pansionists,  and   without   a   moderating   influence   at 
London  or  at  Washington,  or  at  both  capitals,  war, 
seemingly,  would  have  been  inevitable.     For,  with  a 
nation  of  Englishmen  supporting  Canning's  doctrine 
that  Oregon  must  be  apportioned  between  the  two  na- 
tions by  drawing  a  dividing  line  along  the  Columbia 
and  the  forty-ninth  parallel,  and  an  American  nation 
advancing  a  claim  to  the  entire  country  which  previ- 
ously it  had  offered  to  divide  on  the  forty-ninth  par- 
allel the  chances  of  a  peaceable  settlement  of  differ- 
ences were  not  promising. 

Britain's  *'  unquestionable "  rights  asserted. 
Fortunately,  before  matters  were  pressed  to  extremity, 
each  nation  came  to  understand  clearly  that  the  other 
would  go  to  war  rather  than  make  humiliating  conces- 
sions, and  good  sense  on  both  sides  enabled  them  to 
avoid  that  calamity.  The  way  in  which  the  British 
Parliament  and  press  treated  President  Polk's  inaug- 
ural statement  proved  to  our  government  that  Great 
Britain  would  never  consent  to  be  ousted  from  the  re- 
gion west  of  the  Rockies,  whatever  her  historical  rights 


The  Oregon  Boundary  Settled  179 

there  might  be.  We  now  saw  that  she  also  had  rights 
deemed  "  clear  and  unquestionable  "  which  her  people 
would  support  at  all  costs. 

It  proved  somewhat  difficult  to  enlighten  British 
opinion  as  to  what  were  theilower  limits  of  the  Ameri- 
can demands.  The  Ashburton  negotiations  at  first 
threw  the  matter  in  some  doubt  on  account  of  Web- 
ster's suggestion  about  Northern  California.  Still, 
Lord  Ashburton  was  finally  convinced  that,  for  one 
reason  or  another,  Webster  did  not  care  at  that  time  to 
consider  the  Columbia  boundary  proposed  by  him. 
When  the  popular  clamour  for  Fifty-Four-Forty  was 
taken  up  by  the  President  himself,  the  British  govern- 
ment should  have  been  convinced  that  no  possibility  re- 
mained of  securing  Canning's  boundary. 

Peaceful  policy  of  British  statesmen;  new  nego- 
tiations; Pakenham  and  Calhoun.  Doubtless  these 
facts  had  their  influence,  especially  upon  the  British 
cabinet  leaders.  But  in  matters  of  foreign  policy  pub- 
lic opinion  is  apt  to  change  slowly  and  Canning's  Ore- 
gon policy  especially  died  hard.  Sir  Robert  Peel  and 
Lord  Aberdeen,  the  British  premier  and  the  Foreign 
Secretary,  were  anxious  to  avoid  a  rupture  with  the 
United  States  and  after  Ashburton's  failure  they  pro- 
posed a  new  negotiation,  which  they  agreed  might  take 
place  at  Washington  also.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1844  Richard  Pakenham  (afterwards  Sir  Rich- 
ard) was  sent  to  the  United  States  as  minister,  with 
the  special  mission  of  settling  the  Oregon  boundary 
question.     Pakenham    after    some    months,     during 


i8o       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

which  the  secretaryship  of  state  came  into  new  hands, 
opened  negotiations  with  Secretary  Calhoun,  but  again 
with  no  prospect  of  reaching  results.  For  the  most 
part,  old  arguments  were  repeated,  perhaps  in  new 
forms,  but  with  no  increase  in  cogency.  Pakenham 
learned,  however,  that  the  United  States  would  accept 
nothing  short  of  the  forty-ninth  parallel  boundary,  al- 
though they  might  be  willing  to  let  that  boundary  run 
to  the  sea-coast  only,  the  line  from  that  point  deflect- 
ing southward  around  the  southern  end  of  Van- 
couver's Island,  the  whole  of  which,  in  that  case, 
would  go  to  Britain.  Calhoun  assured  him  solemnly 
that  this  was  the  largest  concession  our  government 
could  possibly  make,  and  that  the  Senate  could  never 
be  induced  to  ratify  a  treaty  giving  Great  Britain  a 
more  favourable  boundary. 

Polk,  Buchanan,  and  Pakenham.  It  was  during 
the  discussions  between  Calhoun  and  Pakenham  that 
the  election  occurred  which  placed  James  K.  Polk  in 
the  presidential  chair  on  a  platform  declaring  for  "  the 
whole  of  Oregon."  Polk's  inaugural  address  boded 
ill  for  the  future  negotiations,  yet  Polk  and  his  Secre- 
tary, Buchanan,  gave  assurances  that  they  wished  a 
peaceful  settlement,  and  the  discussions  went  on  much 
as  before,  though  with  some  loss  of  mutual  respect, 
confidence  and  forbearance  on  the  part  of  the  negoti- 
ators. After  a  good  deal  of  preliminary  sparring, 
Buchanan  made  a  new  offer  of  the  forty-ninth  par- 
allel as  a  boundary,  but  with  no  modifications  respect- 
ing either  Vancouver's  Island  or  the  commercial  priv- 


The  Oregon   Boundary  Settled  i8l 

ileges  desired  by  Britain,  and  the  offer  was  refused 
by  Pakenham  without  referring  it  to  his  government. 
Buchanan  then  withdrew  the  offer  and  intimated  that 
no  new  offer  would  be  made  by  the  United  States. 

A  tense  situation.  This  left  the  question  in  a 
critical  state,  inasmuch  as  Congress  was  bound  to  do 
something  for  the  protection  of  American  settlers  in 
Oregon  and  the  temper  of  that  body  was  by  no  means 
conciliatory.  The  saving  thing  in  the  situation  was 
that  the  British  government  learned  in  time  the  reason 
behind  the  popular  American  interest  in  Oregon  and 
so  was  able  to  gauge  more  accurately  the  concessions 
which  would  be  demanded  from  her. 

A  nev^r  argument;  settlement  of  Oregon.  In  the 
discussion  between  Calhoun  and  Pakenham  one  new 
argument  was  brought  forward  by  the  American 
negotiator.  He  said :  "  Our  well  founded  claim, 
grounded  on  contiguity,  has  greatly  strengthened 
during  the  same  period  [since  1818]  by  the  rapid  ad- 
vance of  our  population  towards  the  territory;  its 
great  increase,  especially  in  the  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, as  well  as  the  greatly  increased  facility  of  pass- 
ing to  the  territory  by  more  accessible  routes ;  and  the 
far  stronger  and  rapidly  swelling  tide  of  population 
that  has  recently  commenced  flowing  into  it, —  an 
emigration  estimated  at  not  less  than  1,000  during  the 
past  [year,  1843]  and  1,500  during  the  present  year 
[1844]  has  flowed  into  it.  ,  .  .  There  can  be  no 
doubt,  now,  that  the  operation  of  the  same  causes 
which    impelled    our   population   westward    from   the 


1 82       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

shores  of  the  Atlantic  across  the  Allegheny  to  the  val- 
ley of  the  Mississippi  will  impel  them  onward  with 
accumulating  force  across  the  Rocky  Mountains  into 
the  valley  of  the  Columbia,  and  that  the  whole  region 
drained  by  it  is  destined  to  be  peopled  by  us." 

Its  importance  not  realized  by  Britain;  new  in- 
formation sought.  At  that  point,  therefore,  the 
movement  of  pioneers  into  Oregon  became  a  factor  to 
be  reckoned  with  by  Britain  because  it  was  changing 
the  relative  situation  of  the  two  nations  that  entered 
into  the  joint-occupation  agreement  in  1818.  The 
British  government  had  hardly  been  more  than  aware 
that  such  a  movement  was  going  on;  and  till  a  late 
hour  of  the  negotiations  they  had  no  conception  of  its 
true  importance.  Sir  George  Simpson  had  reported 
the  presence  of  a  few  American  families  in  Oregon  in 
1842.  But  Ashburton  at  about  the  same  time  de- 
clared that  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  United  States 
to  colonize  Oregon  "  for  many  years  to  come." 
Pakenham  held  and  expressed  similar  views.  But  ap- 
parently the  British  cabinet  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
information  its  diplomatic  representatives  could  give 
on  that  subject  and  they  appealed  to  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  as  more  likely  to  know  the  facts  about 
the  settlement  already  existing  in  Oregon.  From 
Governor  Simpson  they  learned  that  as  early  as  1843 
the  American  population  in  Oregon  was  at  least  twice 
as  numerous  as  the  British.  When  the  news  of  Polk's 
warlike  inaugural  reached  London  a  warship  was  or- 
dered to  the  Oregon  coast  and  soon  thereafter  two 


The  Oregon  Boundary  Settled  183 

military  officers,  Lieutenants  Warrc  and  Vavasour, 
were  sent  to  the  Columbia  overland  from  Canada  to 
examine  into  the  means  necessary  to  defend  the  coun- 
try if  the  United  States  should  attempt  to  secure  it  by 
force.  ^ 

A  British  warship  in  Oregon  waters ;  Lieutenant 
Peel's  survey;  Lieutenant  Peel's  report.  The 
America  frigate  anchored  in  Fuca's  Strait  August  31, 
1846.  Her  captain  was  Sir  John  Gordon,  a  brother  of 
Lord  Aberdeen,  and  one  of  her  younger  officers  was 
Lieutenant  William  Peel,  fourth  son  of  Sir  Robert 
Peel.  Captain  Gordon  sent  Lieutenant  Peel  to  Van- 
couver, and  across  the  Columbia  "  to  examine  and  pro- 
cure information  of  the  present  state  of  the  new  Amer- 
ican settlement  on  the  Willamette."  Sailing  promptly 
to  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  Gordon  there  detached  Peel 
to  carry  his  information  to  London.  Peel  sailed  to 
Mexico,  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  was  back  at  London 
by  the  9th  or  loth  of  February,  1846.  Since  he  had 
complete  knowledge  of  the  local  situation  in  Oregon 
—  the  dominance  of  the  Americans  in  political  matters, 
the  extent  of  their  settlements  southward,  the  fact 
that  they  had  penetrated  to  Puget  Sound  in  the  north, 
the  feeling  of  helplessness  on  the  part  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  which  impelled  them  to  come  under  the 
provisional  government  for  their  own  safety  —  it  is 
easy  to  see  what  lights  he  could  throw  on  the  desira- 

^  See  Documents  relative  to  Warre  and  Vavasour's  Military 
Reconnaissance  in  Oregon,  1846.  Edited  by  Joseph  Schafer, 
Quarterly  of  the  Oregon  Historical  Society,  X,  pp.  1-99. 


184       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

bility  of  securing  a  settlement  of  the  boundary.  Peel, 
who  had  visited  California  also,  summed  up  his  im- 
pressions by  declaring :  "  The  American  settlements 
on  the  Willamette,  running  south,  and  those  on  the 
Sacramento  running  north,  will  .  .  .  very  soon  unite. 
Their  junction  will  render  the  possession  of  port  San 
Francisco  to  the  Americans  inevitable.  .  .  ." 

Its  possible  influence.  The  clear  knowledge  of 
conditions  in  Oregon  interpreted  to  the  British  gov- 
ernment the  American  attitude  on  the  Oregon  ques- 
tion. They  now  knew  why  our  government  refused 
to  accede  to  the  offer  of  the  Columbia  boundary,  even 
with  port  privileges  to  the  north ;  they  knew,  also,  why 
Congress  was  so  determined  to  bring  the  Oregon  ques- 
tion to  an  issue,  even  if  that  issue  meant  war. 

With  this  knowledge  in  their  possession,  the  British 
government  was  politically  in  position  to  recede  from 
the  principles  of  the  Canning  boundary  without  loss  of 
parliamentary  or  popular  support.  We  now  know 
that  Lord  Aberdeen  at  least,  and  possibly  also  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  had  long  been  ready,  as  individuals,  to 
accept  the  forty-ninth  parallel  boundary,  with  modifi- 
cations as  to  Vancouver's  Island,  the  free  use  of  the 
northern  ports  and  of  the  Columbia  River  for  com- 
mercial purposes.^  But  the  cabinet,  the  Parliament, 
and  the  country  must  be  educated  to  the  necessity  of 
giving  up  Canning's  policy  and  this  made  necessary  a 

1  This  fact  is  revealed  in  a  private  letter  of  Aberdeen  to  Pak- 
enham  dated  March  4,  1844. 


The  Oregon  Boundary  Settled  185 

complete  exposition  of  the  new  status  of  the  two  na- 
tions relative  to  the  Oregon  territory. 

A  treaty  proposed  by  Britain;  accepted  and 
signed.  Finally,  at  the  psychological  moment  as  it 
proved,  Lord  Aberdeen  submitted  a  proposal  in  the 
form  of  a  treaty  draft.  It  made  the  forty-ninth  par- 
allel the  boundary  to  the  sea,  but  gave  the  British  the 
whole  of  Vancouver's  Island,  with  the  freedom  of  the 
ports  in  that  region  and  also  the  freedom  of  navigating 
the  Columbia.  President  Polk  asked  the  Senate's  ad- 
vice on  this  treaty  and  was  urged  to  accept  it.  The 
treaty  was  concluded  June  15,  1846.^ 

1  For  almost  half  a  century  the  pubhc  has  heard  much,  at 
times,  about  the  influence  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman  exerted  upon 
the  course  of  the  Oregon  negotiations.  So  vigorous  has  been 
the  discussion  of  this  question  that  a  voluminous  literature  of  the 
subject  is  now  in  existence  in  the  form  of  books,  pamphlets,  and 
newspaper  or  magazine  articles.  Space  limitations  forbid  the 
presentation  here  of  even  a  small  proportion  of  the  titles.  Per- 
haps the  most  thorogoing  statement  of  the  Whitman-saved- 
Oregon  theory  is  found  in  Myron  Eells's  "  Marcus  Whitman, 
Pathfinder  and  Patriot."  The  most  searching  criticism  of  the 
claim  that  Whitman  saved  Oregon  is  in  Edward  G.  Bourne's 
"Essays  in  Historical  Criticism,"  under  the  title  "The  Whitman 
Legend."  Much  documentary  material  on  the  subject  is  found 
in  William  I.  Marshall's  "  Acquisition  of  Oregon." 

The  present  writer,  while  regarding  Whitman  as  a  noble  Chris- 
tian pioneer  and  missionary  and  while  anxious  to  give  him  credit 
for  every  service  he  performed  for  Oregon,  cannot  subscribe  to 
the  theory  that  Whitman  saved  Oregon,  or  that  he  had  any  sub- 
stantial influence  beyond  that  of  other  important  missionaries  or 
pioneers  upon  the  course  of  the  history  which  eventuated  in  the 
boundary  treaty  of  1846. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   TERRITORY    OF    OREGON 

News  of  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  reached  Ore- 
gon on  the  3d  of  December,  1846,  nearly  six  months 
after  the  event.  The  people  assumed  that  the  Con- 
gress, at  the  session  then  commencing,  would  estab- 
lish a  territorial  government  for  Oregon.  This  was 
the  desire  of  President  Polk  also,  and  indeed  a  bill 
for  that  purpose  passed  the  House  of  Representatives 
but  it  failed  to  make  headway  in  the  Senate. 

The  reason  was  not  far  to  seek.  In  drawing  up 
the  constitution  of  their  provisional  government  the 
pioneers  inserted  the  famous  clause  from  the  Ordi- 
nance of  1787,  declaring  that  "  neither  slavery  nor  in- 
voluntary servitude,  except  as  a  punishment  for 
crime,"  should  ever  be  permitted  in  the  territory. 
This  was  made  a  part  of  the  Oregon  bill  presented  by 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  of  Illinois,  and  very  naturally 
called  out  the  opposition  of  strong  pro-slavery  leaders 
like  Calhoun. 

President  Polk  and  Senator  Benton  encourage 
the  Oregon  people.  So  the  congressional  session  of 
1846-1847  closed  with  no  provision  for  Oregon. 
The  President  felt  a  deep  interest  in  this  far  western 
settlement,  and  caused  Secretary  of  State  Buchanan  to 

186 


The   Territory  of  Oregon  187 

write  a  letter  to  the  Oregon  people  encouraging  them 
to  expect  favourable  action  at  the  next  session  of  Con- 
gress (1847-1848),  which  was  already  at  hand  when 
the  letter  reached  the  Pacific.  Buchanan  made  no 
clear  statement  of  the  reason  for  the  failure  of  the 
Douglas  bill.  At  about  the  same  time,  however,  a 
letter  was  received  in  Oregon  from  Senator  Thomas 
H.  Benton,  who  threw  the  blame  upon  Calhoun,  but 
declared :  "  You  will  not  be  outlawed  for  not  ad- 
mitting slavery.  ...  I  promise  you  this  in  the  name 
of  the  South,  as  well  as  of  the  North.  .  .  ." 

Congress  again  asked  to  pass  a  bill;  startling 
news  from  Oregon.  It  was  something  to  know  that 
the  leaders  at  the  national  capital  still  remembered 
them;  yet  the  pioneers  had  been  patient  for  a  long 
time,  waiting  for  the  government  to  give  them  some 
sort  of  recognition;  and  now  that  the  quarrel  with 
Great  Britain  was  closed,  it  was  hard  for  them  to  un- 
derstand why  action  should  be  longer  delayed.  Presi- 
dent Polk  was  as  good  as  his  word,  recommending 
strongly  to  the  next  Congress  the  passage  of  an  Ore- 
gon bill.  But  the  opposition  was  at  work  once  more, 
as  in  the  previous  year,  and  might  have  been  equally 
successful  but  for  a  piece  of  startling  news  carried 
across  the  mountains  during  the  winter  that  roused 
public  feeling  in  favour  of  Oregon,  and  practically 
forced  Congress  to  act.  This  was  the  report  of  the 
Whitman  massacre,  into  the  causes  and  the  history  of 
which  we  must  now  inquire. 

The  up-river  missions  and  their  problems.     The 


1 88       //  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

missions  planted  on  the  upper  Columbia  by  Dr.  Whit- 
man and  his  associates  in  1836  and  the  years  follow- 
ing were  influenced  very  little  by  the  colonizing  move- 
ment described  in  the  preceding  chapters.     Their  loca- 
tion on  the  broad  interior  plains  prevented  them  from 
quickly  becoming  centres  of  extensive  settlements  like 
the  Willamette  mission,  so  favourably  located  near  the 
coast.     Therefore,   while   western   Oregon   had  been 
growing  into  a  state,  the  up-river  missionaries  were 
labouring  faithfully  to  teach  the  elements  of  civiliza- 
tion to  a  horde  of  barbarous  natives.     For  a  few  years 
their  success  was  sufficient  to  bring  considerable  en- 
couragement.    But,  as  the  novelty  of  the  new  life  and 
teaching  wore  off,  the  interest  also  slackened ;  Catholic 
priests  came  into  the  country,   teaching  by  different 
methods  from  those  used  by  the  Protestants,  and,  as 
we  have  seen,  this  tended  to  disturb  the  relations  be- 
tween the  missionaries  and  their  wards.     Worse  than 
all,  a  number  of  dissipated,  renegade  Americans  wan- 
dered among  the   tribes,   doing  all   the   mischief   in 
their  power. 

Action  of  the  American  board  closing  the  south- 
em  missions.  At  last  discouragements  mounted  to 
such  a  height  that  the  American  board  at  Boston, 
regarding  the  work  in  Oregon  as  partly  a  fail- 
ure, passed  a  resolution  to  close  the  missions  at 
Waiilatpu  and  Lapwai,  retaining  only  the  one  in  the 
north. ^  News  of  this  action  reached  Dr.  Whitman  in 
the  fall  of  1842.  A  meeting  of  the  missionaries  was 
iThis  action  was  probably  due  to  exaggerated  reports  of  the 


The   Territory  of  Oregon  189 

at  once  called,  and  an  agreement  reached  that  the  mis- 
sions should  not  be  given  up.  Moreover,  Dr.  Whit- 
man asked  and  received  permission  from  the  assembly 
to  return  to  the  East  and  lay  the  whole  matter  before 
the  board  in  person. 

Whitman  s  famous  winter  ride,  October  to  April, 
1 842-1 843.  Whitman  left  his  station  on  the  Walla 
Walla  October  3,  1842,  with  a  single  white  compan- 
ion, Mr.  A.  L.  Lovejoy,  expecting  to  cross  the  moun- 
tains before  the  snows  of  winter  set  in.  This  he 
might  readly  have  accomplished  had  all  gone  well; 
but  on  reaching  Fort  Hall  he  learned  that  the  In- 
dians were  likely  to  arrest  his  progress  if  he  should 
continue  by  the  direct  road,  and  therefore  he  turned 
south,  making  the  long  detour  by  Taos  and  Bent's 
Fort.  On  this  journey  winter  overtook  the  travellers, 
violent  storms  and  deep  snows  impeded  their  march; 
while  the  biting  cold,  exposure,  and  lack  of  proper 
food  would  have  destroyed  any  but  the  most  hardy 
pioneers.  At  last,  early  in  January,  they  reached 
Bent's  Fort,  where  Lovejoy  remained  till  the  follow- 
ing summer,  while  Whitman  pushed  on  to  St.  Louis 
and  thence  to  Boston  and  Washington. 

Whitman  in  the  East.  We  are  fortunate  in  hav- 
ing two  accounts  of  this  intrepid  missionary  when  he 
reached  the  Atlantic  coast.^     He  wore  his  wilderness 

difficulties  in  Oregon  written  by  one  or  two  men  formerly  con- 
nected with  the  missions. 

1  One  is  Horace  Greeley's  editorial,  in  the  New  York  Tribune 
(daily)  of  March  29,  1843;  the  other  a  letter  to  the  New  York 


190      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

garb  —  fur  cap,  buckskin  trousers,  and  all  —  to  the 
city  of  New  York  and  into  the  office  of  the  great 
editor,  Horace  Greeley,  who  described  him,  referring 
to  his  clothing,  as  "  the  roughest  man  we  have  seen 
this  many  a  day."  Again,  on  board  the  steamboat 
Narragansett,  going  from  New  York  to  Boston,  he 
impressed  a  traveller  as  one  of  the  strangest  figures 
that  had  "  ever  passed  through  the  Sound  since  the 
days  of  steam  navigation  " ;  yet,  "  that  he  was  every 
inch  a  man  and  no  common  one  was  clear."  At  BoS' 
ton  he  succeeded  in  getting  the  board  to  withdraw  its 
order  to  abandon  the  southern  missions.  He  wished 
them  to  send  out  a  few  good  families  to  settle  about 
the  stations  as  supports  to  the  missionaries.  At 
Washington  he  urged  the  Secretary  of  War  to  estab- 
lish along  the  Oregon  trail  a  line  of  forts  and  farming 
stations,  which  might  sen^e  as  a  protection  against  the 
Indians  and  also  furnish  emigrants  with  needed  sup- 
plies. By  the  middle  of  May  he  was  back  at  Inde- 
pendence, ready  to  take  up  the  line  of  march  with  the 
great  company  gathering  there.  We  have  already 
spoken  of  his  important  services  on  the  route. 

Decline  of  missions,  1 843-1 847.  Although  the 
Indians  welcomed  Whitman  back  in  the  fall  of  1843, 
with  every  indication  of  pleasure  at  his  safe  return, 
yet  from  this  time  the  missionaries  gradually  lost  their 
power  over  the  surrounding  peoples.^     Their  letters 

Spectator,   published   April   5,    1843.     Both   are   reprinted    in  the 
Quarterly  of  the  Oregon  Historical  Society  for  June,  1903. 
iMr.   Spalding,  indeed,  wrote  in  June,  1843,  that  "the  cause 


The   Territory  of  Oregon  19 1 

thenceforth  contained  many  complaints,  showing  that 
conditions  were  becoming  more  and  more  dishearten- 
ing. By  the  close  of  the  year  1845  it  seemed  to  them 
that  the  only  thing  that  could  save  the  missions  was 
the  settlement  of  Christian  families  in  the  country,  as 
Whitman  had  advocated  for  several  years.  But  such 
help  failed  to  come,  and  the  lonely  workers  in  this 
great  wilderness  were  left  alone  to  meet  the  awful 
fate  which  was  about  to  engulf  them. 

The  crisis  reached,  1847;  causes  of  hostility. 
Before  the  end  of  the  summer  of  1847  many  of  the 
Cayuses  became  so  surly  and  insolent  that  Whitman 
seems  to  have  thought  seriously  of  abandoning 
Waiilatpu  and  removing  with  his  family  either  to  the 
Dalles  or  to  the  Willamette  valley.  Unfortunately 
this  plan  was  too  long  delayed.  When  the  emigrants 
of  that  year  arrived,  many  of  their  children  were  sick 
with  the  measles,  a  disease  which  soon  spread  rapidly 
among  the  Indians  as  well.     Dr.  Whitman  treated  both 

of  religion  and  of  civilization  has  steadily  advanced  among  this 
people  from  the  beginning."  He  declared  that  at  his  station 
twelve  Indians  were  members  of  the  church,  and  more  than 
fifty  had  been  received  on  probation ;  the  school,  which  was  ex- 
ceptionally prosperous,  had  increased  from  one  hundred  to  two 
hundred  and  thirty-four,  chiefs  and  other  great  men  as  well  as 
the  children  learning  to  read  and  to  print.  Sixty  families  had 
each  raised  over  one  hundred  bushels  of  grain,  and  the  herds 
were  increasing  rapidly.  There  is  scarcely  a  doubt,  however, 
that  so  far  as  the  school  was  concerned,  and  probably  in  other 
respects,  Lapwai  was  at  this  time  the  most  prosperous  of  the 
mission  stations,  and  this  report  is  the  most  cheering  one  that 
we  get. 


192      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

the  whites  and  the  Indians;  but  while  the  former 
usually  recovered  quickly,  the  latter,  on  account  of 
their  unwholesome  mode  of  life,  died  off  in  alarming 
numbers.  It  is  not  surprising  that  this  was  so,  but  it 
could  not  be  expected  that  the  natives  would  under- 
stand the  true  reason  for  it.  What  they  saw  was  that 
Whitman  was  saving  the  whites  and  letting  their  own 
people  perish.  Nay,  was  he  not  actually  causing  their 
death  by  administering  poison  instead  of  the  medicine 
he  pretended  to  be  giving  them  ?  This  suspicion  took 
fast  hold  upon  the  minds  of  the  Cayuses,  and  was  the 
immediate  cause  of  their  determination  to  kill  Dr. 
Whitman  as  they  were  accustomed  to  kill  sorcerers  in 
their  own  tribe,  who,  as  they  believed,  sometimes 
caused  deaths  among  them. 

The  massacre,  November  29,  1847.  The  blow 
fell  on  the  afternoon  of  the  29th  of  November,  1847, 
when  Dr.  Whitman,  his  wife,  and  seven  other  persons 
at  the  mission  were  put  to  death  in  the  most  barbarous 
manner.  Five  more  victims  followed  within  a  few 
days;  while  half  a  hundred  women  and  children, 
largely  emigrants  who  were  stopping  at  the  sta- 
tion, were  held  as  captives  in  one  of  the  mission 
houses. 

Rescue  of  the  prisoners.  The  Indians  supposed 
that  by  keeping  control  of  these  helpless  ones  they 
could  save  themselves  from  the  vengeance  of  the  white 
settlers  in  Oregon ;  for  they  gave  out  word  that  all 
captives  would  be  put  to  death  at  the  first  news  of  war 
from  down  the  river.     Fortunately,  before  this  came, 


The  Territory  of  Oregon  193 

Peter  Skeeii  Ogden  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
arrived  from  Vancouver,  pushing  through  at  the  ut- 
most speed  on  learning  of  the  massacre,  to  try  to  save 
the  captives.  It  was  no  easy  matter  to  do  this;  but 
by  exerting  all  his  influence  and  authority,  Mr.  Ogden 
finally  succeeding  in  ransoming  not  alone  those  at 
Waiilatpu,  but  the  people  at  the  Spalding  mission  as 
well  —  a  total  of  fifty-seven  persons.  All  were  taken 
down  the  river,  finding  friends  and  homes  among  the 
settlers  of  the  Willamette  valley,  where  they  were  soon 
joined  by  the  missionaries  from  the  northern  station.^ 
Declaration  of  war.  When  the  news  of  the  mas- 
sacre reached  the  Willamette  valley  (December  8),  it 
produced  the  wildest  alarm.  No  one  knew  how  far 
this  atrocity  might  be  the  result  of  a  union  among  the 
up-river  tribes  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  all  of  the 
white  people  in  Oregon.  They  proposed,  however, 
not  to  wait  till  the  Indians  could  reach  the  valley,  but 
to  send  a  force  of  men  up  the  river  at  once.  So  great 
was  the  excitement  and  enthusiasm  that  in  a  single  day 
a  company  of  troops  was  raised,  equipped  as  well  as 
possible,  furnished  with  a  flag  made  by  the  women  of 
Oregon  City,  and  hurried  forward  to  the  scene  of 
danger.  In  a  short  time  an  entire  regiment  was  pro- 
vided, by  means  of  which,  in  the  space  of  a  few 
months,    the   Cayuses    were    severely   punished,    and 

1  A  generation  after  these  events  took  place  Jesse  Applegate 
alluded  feelingly  to  this  service  of  Mr.  Ogden  as  "an  act  of 
pure  mercy  and  philanthropj',  which  money  could  neither  hire 
nor  reward." 


194       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

peace  with  its  blessings  was  once  more  restored  to  the 
Oregon  colony.^ 

Strong  feeling  against  Congress.  But  the  war 
was  a  severe  drain  upon  the  people.  The  provisional 
government  had  no  funds,  and  money  had  to  be  raised 
in  order  to  keep  men  in  the  field.  The  difficulty  was 
nobly  met;  well-to-do  settlers,  merchants,  and  others 
loaned  money,  and  farmers  generally  furnished  sup- 
plies of  grain  and  other  food.  Large  quantities  of 
goods  were  purchased  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company, 
practically  as  a  loan,  although  individual  settlers  gave 
their  notes  by  way  of  security.  It  was  generally  ex- 
pected that  the  United  States  government  would  take 
this  burden  of  debt  upon  itself,  this  being  the  least  it 
could  do  to  make  amends  for  leaving  the  people  of 
Oregon  so  long  defenceless.  At  this  crucial  time,  when 
the  colony  was  shrouded  in  the  darkest  gloom,  men  re- 
membered the  numerous  appeals  which  had  vainly 
gone  up  from  this  far-off  valley  to  the  national  capital, 
and  a  feeling  of  bitterness  against  a  seemingly  un- 
grateful government  was  mingled  with  their  grief  and 
fears.  Had  Congress  done  its  duty,  so  they  believed, 
this  evil  would  not  have  befallen  them. 

Last  memorial  to  Congress.  In  the  excitement  of 
those  December  days  the  Oregon  leaders  prepared  a 
ringing  memorial  to  the  national  legislature,  and  started 
"  Joe "  Meek  eastward  to  carry  it  to  Washington. 
"  Having  called  upon  the  government  so  often  in  vain," 

1  The  Indians  who  committed  the  murders  were  afterward  se- 
cured, tried,  and  executed. 


The   Territory  of  Oregon  195 

they  say,  "  we  have  almost  despaired  of  receiving  its 
protection ;  yet  we  trust  that  our  present  situation,  when 
fully  laid  before  you,  will  at  once  satisfy  your  honour- 
able body  of  the  necessity  of  extending  the  strong  arm 
of  guardianship  and  protection  over  this  distant,  but 
beautiful  portion  of  the  United  States'  domain.  Our 
relations  with  the  proud  and  powerful  tribes  of  Indians 
residing  east  of  the  Cascade  Mountains,  hitherto  uni- 
formly amicable  and  pacific,  have  recently  assumed  quite 
a  different  character.  They  have  shouted  the  war 
whoop,  and  crimsoned  their  tomahawks  in  the  blood  of 
our  citizens.  .  .  .  Circumstances  warrant  your  memo- 
rialists in  believing  that  many  of  the  powerful  tribes 
.  .  .  have  formed  an  alliance  for  the  purpose  of  carry- 
ing on  hostilities  against  our  settlements.  ...  To  re- 
pel the  attacks  of  so  formidable  a  foe,  and  protect  our 
families  and  property  from  violence  and  rapine,  will 
require  more  strength  than  we  possess  ...  we  have  a 
right  to  expect  your  aid,  and  you  are  in  justice  bound 
to  extend  it.  .  .  .  If  it  be  at  all  the  intention  of  our 
honoured  parent  to  spread  her  guardian  wings  over  her 
sons  and  daughters  in  Oregon,  she  surely  will  not  refuse 
to  do  it  now,  when  they  are  struggling  with  all  the  ills 
of  a  weak  and  temporary  government,  and  when  perils 
are  daily  thickening  around  them,  and  preparing  to 
burst  upon  their  heads.  When  the  ensuing  summer's 
sun  shall  have  dispelled  the  snow  from  the  mountains, 
we  shall  look  with  glowing  hopes  and  restless  anxiety 
for  the  coming  of  your  laws  and  your  arms." 
The  news  in  Washington.     Joe  Meek,  accompanied 


196       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

by  nine  sturdy  associates,  set  out  from  the  headquarters 
of  the  army  at  Waiilatpu  on  the  4th  of  March,  1848, 
and  in  just  sixty-six  days  reached  St.  Joseph,  Missouri. 
Six  days  later  (May  17)  he  arrived  at  St.  Louis,  and 
now  the  dreadful  story  of  the  Whitman  massacre  was 
flashed  all  over  the  land,  producing  a  feeling  of  sym- 
pathy and  anxiety  for  the  Oregon  people  that  nothing 
in  their  previous  history  had  been  able  to  excite.  Meek 
went  to  Washington  and  laid  his  dispatches  before 
President  Polk.  They  were  at  once  sent  to  Congress, 
together  with  a  message  calling  on  that  body  to  act,  and 
act  quickly,  in  order  that  troops  might  be  hurried  to  the 
defence  of  Oregon  before  the  end  of  the  summer. 
Great  haste  was  not  possible,  for  the  question  of  slavery 
was  beginning  to  overshadow  all  else,  and  the  strong- 
est passions  were  aroused  on  this  subject  in  the  course 
of  the  debate  on  the  Oregon  bill.  Yet  so  much  general 
interest  was  felt  in  the  safety  of  Oregon  that  the  meas- 
ure was  finally  passed,  just  before  the  adjournment  of 
Congress,  August  13,  after  a  continuous  session  of 
twenty-one  hours. 

The  territory  of  Oregon ;  General  Lane  governor. 
President  Polk  signed  the  bill  and  appointed  General 
Joseph  Lane  of  Indiana  governor  of  the  territory  of 
Oregon.  Joe  Meek  was  given  the  office  of  United 
States  marshal  in  the  new  government.  Governor 
Lane,  Meek,  and  a  number  of  others  started  for  Oregon 
by  way  of  Santa  Fe  and  California  late  in  August. 
They  succeeded,  though  with  much  difficulty,  in  reach- 
ing San  Francisco,  where  the  governor  and  marshal 


The   Territory  of  Oregon  197 

took  ship  for  the  Cokimbia.  They  arrived  at  Oregon 
City  March  2,  1849,  and  on  the  following  day  the  new 
territorial  government  was  proclaimed.^ 

1  This  was  the  day  before  Polk's  administration  came  to  an 
end.  General  Lane  acted  as  governor  less  than  two  years,  re- 
signing in  June,  1850.  In  185 1  he  was  elected  to  represent  the 
territory  in  Congress,  and  filled  the  office  until  1859,  when  he 
took  his  seat  as  one  of  the  United  States  senators  from  Oregon. 
In  i860  he  was  nominated  for  Vice-President  on  the  ticket  with 
John  C.  Breckenridge.    He  died  in  1881. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    NORTHWEST    AND    CALIFORNIA 

Conditions  in  early  California.  For  most  Ameri- 
cans the  history  of  the  Pacific  coast  had  thus  far  been 
summed  up  in  the  story  of  Oregon.  The  Mexican 
(until  1 82 1  the  Spanish)  territory  south  of  the  parallel 
of  42°  had  sometimes  attracted  the  notice  of  public 
men,  and  once  or  twice  produced  some  effect  upon  the 
government's  plans  concerning  Oregon.  But  until 
about  1840  very  little  attention  was  paid  to  this  vast 
province,  where  four  or  five  thousand  people  were  liv- 
ing in  comparative  idleness,  scattered  about  through  the 
valleys  and  over  the  plains  of  that  fair  and  sunny  land. 
The  principal  occupation  was  the  keeping  of  herds, 
which  required  little  labour.  The  "  Boston  Ships,"  as 
the  American  traders  were  called,  plied  up  and  down 
the  long  coast  line,  visiting  the  harbours  and  inlets 
where  they  exchanged  groceries  and  manufactured 
goods  for  the  cartloads  of  beef  hides  and  bags  of  tallow 
brought  down  from  the  ranches. 

Americans  settle  in  California.  Sometimes  sail- 
ors, attracted  by  the  easy  life  of  the  Calif ornians,  de- 
serted from  these  vessels  and  became  residents  in  the 
country.  Other  Americans  came  overland  as  hunters 
and  trappers,  like  Jedediah  Smith,  Ewing  Young,  and 

198 


The  Northwest  and  California  199 

the  Walker  party  sent  out  by  Captain  Bonneville. 
Many  of  them  remained  to  marry  native  women,  secure 
grants  of  land,  and  become  citizens.  After  a  time  the 
region  became  pretty  well  known  among  the  class  of 
frontiersmen  who  were  beginning  to  go  to  Oregon,  and 
in  1 84 1  the  first  emigrant  train  made  its  way  overland, 
partly  by  the  Oregon  trail,  to  the  Sacramento  valley. 
Thereafter  the  annual  migrations  to  the  far  West  were 
usually  divided,  a  portion  branching  off  at  Fort  Hall  to 
go  to  California,  although  Oregon  still  received  by  far 
the  larger  share. 

Captain  Sutter  and  Sutter's  Fort.  In  1839  Cap- 
tain John  A.  Sutter,  formerly  a  soldier  in  the  Swiss 
army,  went  to  California  by  way  of  Oregon,  and  in 
1 84 1  he  secured  from  the  Mexican  governor  eleven 
square  leagues  of  land  in  the  Sacramento  valley.  He 
built  a  strong  fort  of  adobes  on  the  site  of  the  present 
city  of  Sacramento,  began  raising  grain  and  cattle  on 
a  large  scale,  and  also  traded  with  the  Indians  for  furs. 
Sutter  employed  a  number  of  Americans  upon  his 
estate,  and  by  furnishing  supplies  to  others  enabled 
them  to  settle  in  this  interior  section  of  California. 
The  fort  was  on  the  main  emigrant  routes  from  the 
United  States  and  Oregon,  which  helped  to  make  it  in 
a  few  years  the  centre  of  the  most  important  American 
community  in  the  country. 

Rumours  of  war.  The  Mexican  government  was 
not  strong  during  this  period  even  at  home,  while  the 
great  distance  to  California  from  the  Mexican  capital, 
the  difficulties  of  communication,  and  the  scattered  con- 


200      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

dition  of  the  population  made  her  rule  in  this  province 
so  feeble  as  to  be  almost  ridiculous.  The  result  was 
numerous  revolutions,  in  which  the  Americans  usually 
took  part,  and  such  a  state  of  political  unrest  that  men 
accustomed  to  a  settled  and  strong  government  could 
scarcely  be  blamed  for  wishing  a  change.  The  interest 
which  the  United  States  already  had  in  Oregon,  the 
continued  emigration  of  her  people  by  sea  and  land  to 
California,  the  letters  written  back  by  these  emigrants, 
the  reports  of  official  visitors  and  the  books  of  far 
west  travellers  produced  a  feeling  that  our  country 
must  finally  become  possessed  of  the  southern  as  well 
as  the  northern  section  of  the  Pacific  coast.  After 
1836  there  was  always  danger  of  war  between  the 
United  States  and  Mexico  over  the  question  of  annex- 
ing Texas  to  the  Union,  thus  increasing  the  feeling  of 
uncertainty  respecting  California.  It  was  well  under- 
stood that  in  case  of  hostilities  this  province  would 
doubtless  be  captured  by  the  American  fleet.^ 

The  Bear  Flag  Revolt,  June,  1846.  By  the  spring 
of  1846  there  were  several  hundred  Americans  scat- 
tered through  the  country,  the  most  numerous  body  of 
them  in  the  vicinity  of  Sutter's  Fort.  Lieutenant 
John  C.  Fremont,  the  "  Pathfinder,"  with  his  surveying 
party,  had  wintered  in  California,  where  he  came  into 
conflict   with  the   government   authorities.     He   then 

1  In  1842  Commodore  Jones,  believing  that  war  had  broken 
out  between  the  two  nations,  actually  took  possession  of  Monterey 
and  hoisted  the  American  flag.  He  gave  up  the  place  a  few 
hours  later  on  learning  his  mistake. 


The  Northwest  and  California  201 

marched  north  toward  Oregon,  but  turned  back  from 
Klamath  Lake  on  receiving  a  visit  from  Gillespie,  a 
secret  agent  of  the  United  States.  The  settlers  about 
the  fort  became  convinced  from  his  actions  that  war 
had  broken  out,  and  some  of  them  decided  that  it  would 
be  the  proper  thing  for  them  to  declare  California  in- 
dependent of  Mexico.  This  they  did  at  Sonoma,  June 
14,  1846,  raising  the  famous  lone  star  flag  with  the 
rudely  painted  figure  of  a  bear  upon  it  (the  "  Bear 
Flag"). 

The  war  of  conquest.  Now  followed  an  armed 
conflict,  which  might  perhaps  have  been  avoided,  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  the  Calif ornians.  Fre- 
mont took  a  prominent  part  in  it,  as  did  also  Commo- 
dore Stockton  of  the  American  fleet.  The  United 
States  government  sent  General  Kearny  to  California 
by  way  of  Santa  Fe,  and  after  a  few  months  of  fight- 
ing the  territory  came  definitely  into  American  hands. 
When  the  treaty  of  peace  was  signed,  February  2,  1848, 
the  conquest  was  confirmed  to  us.  A  military  govern- 
ment had  already  been  established,  the  laws  changed 
somewhat  in  accordance  with  American  ideas,  and  a 
new  system  of  administration  substituted  for  that 
formerly  maintained  by  Mexico. 

The  gold  discovery.  It  was  expected  that  these 
changes  would  promote  the  prosperity  of  California, 
which  might  at  last  hope  to  become  a  rival  of  Oregon 
upon  the  Pacific  coast.^     But  no  one  dreamed  of  the 

1  When  the  Bear  Flag  Revolt  occurred,  Captain  Sutter  (who 
was  a  German  Swiss  and  never  mastered  the  English  language 


202      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

wonderful  transformation  about  to  take  place.  On  the 
24th  of  January,  ten  days  before  the  treaty  of  peace 
was  signed,  James  W.  Marshall  made  his  world-famous 
discovery  of  gold  on  the  American  River,  some  fifty 
miles  above  Sutter's  Fort.  He  and  Captain  Sutter 
wished  to  keep  the  benefits  of  the  find  to  themselves, 
but  the  secret  escaped,  as  great  secrets  usually  do,  and 
in  a  few  weeks  the  inhabitants  of  California  were 
hurrying  north  with  shovel  and  pan,  hoping  to  wash 
quick  fortunes  out  of  the  sands  brought  down  from 
the  mysterious  Sierras.  So  great  did  the  "  rush  "  be- 
come that  at  San  Francisco  and  other  towns  ordinary 
lines  of  business  were  suspended,  stores,  warehouses, 
and  even  printing  offices  were  deserted,  and  vessels 
touching  at  San  Francisco  had  to  remain  in  port  be- 
cause the  crews  escaped  to  the  mines.  Picks,  shovels, 
and  pans  rose  to  famine  prices. 

The  news  reaches  Oregon,  August,  1848.  Before 
the  summer  closed  news  of  the  discovery  had  reached 
Oregon,  producing  an  excitement  scarcely  less  intense 
than  that  caused  by  the  Indian  war  just  ended.  Reso- 
lutions were  instantly  taken,  plans  made,  and  in  a  few 
days  a  company  was  on  its  way  southward.  Soon  a 
regular  tide  of  travel,  on  foot,  by  pack  train,  and 
wagon,  set  in  across  the  Siskiyous.  Oregon  lost  within 
a  single  year  a  very  large  proportion  of  its  male  in- 

perfectly)  wrote  exultantly  to  a  friend,  "  What  for  progress  will 
California  make  now !  "  The  manuscript  letter  from  which  this 
is  quoted  is  in  possession  of  Mr.  P.  J.  Healy  of  San  Francisco, 
who  kindly  permitted  the  writer  to  examine  his  collection. 


The  Northwest  and  California  203 

habitants.  Some  of  the  most  prominent  men  passed 
into  this  new  emigration ;  for  example,  Peter  H.  Bur- 
nett, soon  to  become  the  first  governor  of  the  State 
of  Cahfornia.  When  General  Lane  and  Joe  Meek 
reached  San  Francisco  on  their  way  northward,  they 
saw  numbers  of  Oregon  men,  some  of  whom,  leaving 
the  Willamette  valley  or  Puget  Sound  almost  penniless, 
were  already  returning  to  their  families  with  thousands 
of  dollars  in  gold  dust. 

The  "  Forty-niners " ;  progress  of  California. 
The  news  was  carried  across  the  Rockies,  and  before 
the  arrival  of  winter  hundreds,  thousands,  on  the  At- 
lantic coast  were  preparing  for  the  voyage  to  Panama, 
expecting  to  cross  the  Isthmus  and  take  ship  to  San 
Francisco.  Others  in  the  interior  impatiently  waited 
till  the  grass  should  start  in  the  spring,  when  twenty- 
five  thousand  persons,  in  an  almost  continuous  caravan, 
moved  westward  to  the  valley  of  the  Sacramento.  But 
this  was  only  the  beginning.  Month  after  month,  and 
year  after  year,  the  excited  multitudes  pressed  on  to 
this  new  El  Dorado.  All  were  looking  for  the  golden 
treasure;  but  while  most  men  sought  it  in  the  river 
drift,  many  took  the  surer  methods  of  carrying  sup- 
plies to  the  mines,  or  of  cultivating  the  soil  in  order  to 
produce  flour,  bacon,  fruit,  and  other  necessities  which 
during  the  early  years  of  the  gold  rush  brought  such 
fabulous  prices.  Hundreds  of  new  occupations  were 
opened,  and  fortunes  made  in  the  most  diverse  ways. 
No  young  western  community  had  ever  been  advertised 


204      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

as  was  California  during  these  years;  and  few,  even  of 
the  most  prosperous,  had  grown  as  rapidly  as  she. 

San  Francisco  the  commercial  emporium  of  the 
Pacific  coast.  The  mining  camps  were  soon  extended 
so  as  to  embrace  a  large  portion  of  the  territory  west 
of  the  Sierras;  towns  like  Stockton  and  Sacramento 
grew  up  as  interior  supply  stations;  while  San  Fran- 
cisco, at  the  great  harbour  of  California,  rose  at  one 
bound  to  be  the  place  of  chief  importance  among  Pacific 
coast  seaports.  Here  was  the  emporium  of  all  the 
trade  of  this  rapidly  growing  population,  having  rela- 
tions with  the  eastern  coast,  with  Mexico,  Central  and 
South  America,  Australia,  Hawaii,  and  in  general  all 
countries  interested  in  the  trade  of  the  great  gold- 
producing  territory  which  fortune  had  recently  tossed 
into  the  lap  of  the  United  States.  Men  from  the  east- 
ern cities  employed  their  capital  and  their  business  skill 
in  building  up  at  San  Francisco  great  commercial  estab- 
lishments, whose  influence  has  been  felt  throughout  the 
later  course  of  Pacific  coast  history.  They  did  not 
confine  themselves  to  California,  but  came  northward 
to  the  Columbia  River,  to  Puget  Sound,  and  the  smaller 
harbours  along  the  northwest  coast;  to  the  interior 
districts  of  the  Oregon  country,  wherever  opportunities 
for  profitable  commerce  were  to  be  found.  San  Fran- 
cisco's population  of  a  few  hundred  in  1848  grew  by 
i860  to  more  than  56,000,  in  another  decade  it  be- 
came 150,000,  and  by  1880  exceeded  a  quarter  of  a 
million. 

Change  in  the  course  of  Pacific  coast  history. 


The  Northwest  and  California  205 

We  cannot  follow  this  wonderful  movement  in  detail, 
but  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  discovery  of  gold  produced 
startling  changes  in  the  relations  between  the  northern 
and  southern  sections  of  the  Pacific  slope.  When  the 
Oregon  bill  was  before  Congress  in  the  spring  of  1848, 
some  wished  to  couple  with  it  a  bill  for  a  California 
and  a  New  Mexico  territory  also;  but  others  declared 
that  the  "  native-born  "  territory  of  Oregon  should  not 
be  unequally  yoked  with  "  territories  scarcely  a  month 
old,  and  peopled  by  Mexicans  and  half-Indian  Cali- 
fornians."  Two  years  after  this  incident  California 
had  a  population,  mainly  American,  of  92,000  and  was 
ready  for  statehood,  ten  years  later  she  had  380,000, 
and  in  another  decade  more  than  half  a  million;  while 
the  territory  of  Oregon  which  in  1850  included  the 
entire  district  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  north 
of  California,  had  in  that  year  less  than  14,000  people. 
By  1870  the  Pacific  Northwest,  then  divided  into  the 
state  of  Oregon  and  the  two  territories  of  Washington 
and  Idaho,  had  a  total  population  of  only  130,000  as 
against  California's  560,000. 

California  overshadows  the  Northwest.  These 
facts  tell  the  story  of  how  the  natural  course  of  the 
Pacific  coast's  development  was  changed  by  the  magic 
of  gold.  The  long  list  of  American  explorers,  traders, 
and  missionaries,  whose  deeds  and  sacrifices  glorify 
the  early  history  of  the  Pacific  Northwest,  were  largely 
forgotten  by  a  nation  entranced  with  the  story  of  the 
"  Forty-niners."  The  far-reaching  influence  of  Ore- 
gon as  the  oldest  American  territory  on  the  Pacific 


2o6       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

coast  faded  quickly  from  the  memories  of  men.  The 
Oregon  Trail  was  already  deep  worn  through  the  sand 
hills  along  the  Platte  and  Sweetwater,  Bear  River,  and 
the  Portneuf,  by  the  wagons  of  the  Oregon  pioneers; 
it  was  lined  with  the  crumbling  bones  of  their  cattle, 
and  marked  by  the  graves  of  their  dead ;  yet  instantly, 
after  the  passage  of  the  thronging  multitudes  of  '49, 
it  became  the  *'  California  Trail,"  and  to  this  day  most 
men  know  it  by  no  other  name.  California,  in  a  word, 
so  completely  overshadowed  the  Northwest  in  wealth, 
in  commerce,  and  in  population,  that  to  the  people  of 
the  country  in  general  this  state  has  seemed  to  be  about 
all  of  the  Pacific  coast. 


CHAPTER  XV 

PROGRESS   AND    POLITICS,    1849-1859 

California's  debt  to  the  Northwest.  The  rela- 
tions between  the  Northwest  and  California  were  in 
some  respects  very  close.  Those  Oregon  men  who 
went  to  the  gold  mines  were  seasoned  pioneers,  who  had 
already  partly  conquered  and  civilized  one  great  sec- 
tion of  the  Pacific  coast.  They  were  a  valuable  ele- 
ment in  the  new  and  mixed  population  that  now  poured 
into  the  southern  territory,  helping  to  bring  order  out 
of  disorder,  and  to  establish  an  effective  government 
for  the  new  state  as  they  had  already  done  for  their 
own  colony.  It  is  of  course  impossible,  as  well  as  un- 
necessary, to  measure  California's  debt  to  the  North- 
west during  the  early  years  of  the  gold  rush;  but  it 
was  undoubtedly  very  great. 

New  California  helps  to  create  a  new  Northwest. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  is  much  truth  in  the  claim 
that  the  rapid  development  of  California  gave  an  en- 
tirely new  aspect  to  life  in  the  Northwest,  The  first 
effect  of  the  gold  discovery  was  to  draw  away  one-half 
or  perhaps  two-thirds  of  the  able-bodied  men  of  Ore- 
gon, and  to  leave  the  country  with  insufficient  labour 
to  cultivate  the  fields  already  opened.  But  this  was 
only  a  temporary  drawback.     The  mines  afforded  a 

207 


•208       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

wonderful  market  for  everything  the  northern  region 
could  produce.  Packers  visited  the  farms,  buying  up 
the  surplus  flour,  meat,  lard,  butter,  eggs,  vegetables, 
and  fruits.  A  large  number  of  boats  entered  the 
Columbia,  ascending  to  the  new  village  of  Portland  on 
the  Willamette,  where  they  took  on  cargoes  of  pro- 
visions as  rapidly  as  these  could  be  collected  from  up 
the  river.  Cargoes  of  lumber  were  carried  away  from 
the  mills  already  established,  and  these  proving  insuffi- 
cient to  meet  the  demand,  others  were  built  and  put 
Into  operation  at  various  points  along  the  Columbia. 
Farmers,  merchants,  labourers,  manufacturers,  specu- 
lators, in  fact  all  classes  of  settlers  in  Oregon  reaped  a 
magnificent  harvest  from  the  filling  up  of  California, 
and  the  new  wealth  of  gold.  Debts  were  cancelled, 
homes  improved,  and  the  conditions  of  life  made  easier 
and  more  pleasant  than  they  had  been  in  the  strictly 
pioneer  time;  new  enterprises  of  all  sorts  were  started 
in  the  Willamette  settlement,  machinery  was  imported 
for  the  use  of  the  farmer,  roads  opened,  and  steamboats 
placed  upon  the  rivers.  The  new  territorial  govern- 
ment, which  fortunately  came  just  at  the  beginning  of 
the  new  age,  was  of  great  benefit  to  the  people  in  many 
ways.  Among  other  things  it  enabled  them  to  make 
some  provision  for  a  system  of  common  schools,^  and 

iThe  pioneers  of  the  Northwest  showed  commendable  enter- 
prise in  the  establishment  of  high-grade  schools,  the  earliest  of 
which  was  the  Oregon  Institute  founded  by  the  Methodist  mis- 
sionaries at  Salem  in  1841.  It  afterward  grew  into  the  Willa- 
mette University.  The  second  was  Tualatin  Academy,  the  be- 
ginning of  Pacific  University.    Common  schools  were  also  main- 


Progress  and  Politics,   1 849-1 859         209 

to  secure  for  this  region  a  cheaper,  more  frequent,  and 
regular  mail  service.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
population  increased  much  more  rapidly  than  formerly ; 
in  spite  of  the  glittering  attractions  of  California  prop- 
erty rose  in  value  and  general  prosperity  prevailed. 

Prosperity  of  the  Puget  Sound  colony.  When 
the  discovery  of  gold  was  first  reported  in  the  autumn 
of  1848,  there  were  only  a  few  settlers  on  Puget  Sound, 
most  of  whom  were  engaged  in  making  shingles  and 
getting  out  timber  for  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company. 
This  was  almost  their  only  means  of  securing  the  sup- 
plies needed  to  support  their  families.  About  twenty- 
five  of  the  men  immediately  set  out  for  the  gold  mines, 
leaving  a  very  small  remnant  of  population  in  the 
country.  In  a  few  months  many  of  them  returned  with 
an  abundance  of  money,  to  be  used  in  making  improve- 
ments. Samuel  Hancock  tells  us  that  when  he  came 
back  to  Olympia  in  the  fall  of  1849,  after  spending  a 
year  in  the  mines,  "  everything  bore  the  impress  of 
prosperity."  Among  other  things  a  grist  mill  had  been 
erected,  which  was  of  great  benefit  to  the  community. 

Beginnings  of  lumbering  on  Puget  Sound.  The 
settlement  on  Puget  Sound  received  special  benefits 
from  the  great  demand  for  lumber  which  came  from 
San  Francisco  and  the  other  California  towns.  No 
portion  of  the  Pacific  Northwest  was  better  fitted  by 
nature  to  supply  this  need ;  for  here  the  forests  usually 
came  down  to  the  water's  edge,  while  many  of  the 

tained  by  private   subscription   before   the  public   school  system 
went  into  effect. 


2IO       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

smaller  inlets,  some  of  them  excellent  harbours  for 
ocean  vessels,  afforded  the  very  best  sites  for  sawmills. 
Early  in  the  year  1849  the  brig  Orbit  put  into  Budd's 
Inlet  (Olympia)  for  a  load  of  piles.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  lumber  trade  with  San  Francisco.  In 
a  short  time  mills  were  running  near  Olympia  (Tum- 
water),  at  the  mouth  of  the  Dewamish  (Seattle),  at 
Steilacoom,  Cape  Flattery,  New  Dungeness,  Port 
Townsend  and  other  places.  With  lumber  selling  at 
sixty  dollars  per  thousand  feet,  as  it  did  for  a  time,  the 
business  was  immensely  profitable. 

The  discovery  of  coal.  Aside  from  lumber  the 
California  communities  were  in  great  need  of  fuel,  and 
the  people  of  San  Francisco  made  anxious  inquiries 
about  the  possibility  of  getting  coal  near  the  harbours 
of  the  northwest  coast.  An  inferior  quality  of  coal 
had  been  found  north  of  the  Columbia  before  1850. 
In  1 85 1  Samuel  Hancock  began  searching  near  Puget 
Sound,  and  w^ith  the  help  of  the  natives  found  what 
seemed  to  be  an  important  deposit  of  this  useful  min- 
eral. Other  discoveries  were  made  at  later  times  on 
Bellingham  Bay,  near  Seattle,  and  at  other  points  all 
convenient  to  good  harbours.  Some  of  these  were 
soon  worked,  with  the  result  that  thousands  of  tons  of 
coal  were  shipped  to  San  Francisco  annually.  All  of 
these  things  brought  about  a  very  prosperous  condi- 
tion in  the  little  colony. 

Increase  in  population.  Since  the  country  south  of 
the  Columbia  had  been  settling  up  for  a  comparatively 
long  time,  the  lands  there  had  been  pretty  carefully 


Progress  and  Politics,   1 849-1 859         211 

picked  over;  and  this  fact,  together  with  the  commer- 
cial advantages  of  Puget  Sound,  caused  some  of  the 
emigrants  of  these  years  to  go  northward  in  search  of 
homes.  The  lumber  mills  gave  employment,  while  the 
explorations  in  search  of  coal,  and  for  other  purposes, 
were  bringing  to  light  new  farming  lands  in  the  rich 
valleys  back  from  the  Sound,  where  the  settlers  now 
began  to  take  claims.  But  for  several  years  little  prog- 
ress was  made  in  agriculture,  flour  and  seed  grain  actu- 
ally being  imported  from  San  Francisco  at  great  ex- 
pense in  exchange  for  a  portion  of  the  lumber  sent 
down.  The  census  of  1850  gives  mi  as  the  total 
population  north  of  the  Columbia.  Three  years  later 
a  special  enumeration  showed  3965.  In  that  year,  for 
the  first  time,  Puget  Sound  drew  a  considerable  part  of 
the  emigration  to  the  Northwest,  thirty-five  wagons 
crossing  the  Cascades  by  a  new  road  which  the  northern 
settlers  had  opened  from  the  Yakima  River  to  Olym- 
pia. 

Agitation  for  a  territorial  government.  The  peo- 
ple about  Puget  Sound  found  themselves  completely 
separated  from  those  on  the  Willamette,  and  living  as 
it  were  in  a  world  of  their  own.  This  was  due  largely 
to  the  difficulty  of  communication  between  the  Colum- 
bia River  and  the  Sound.  The  feeling  was  strength- 
ened by  the  fact  that  all  the  regular  trade  of  this  sec- 
tion was  with  San  Francisco.  Since  their  situation 
rendered  them  independent  of  the  Columbia  River 
commercially,  they  came  to  believe  that  their  country 
should  also  have  a  separate  government.     Agitation 


212       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

for  dividing  the  territory  began  in  1851,  and  the  next 
year  matters  were  brought  to  a  head.  In  September, 
1852,  a  newspaper  called  the  Columbian  ^  was  begun 
at  Olympia  for  the  purpose  of  advocating  the  project, 
and  one  month  later  (October  27)  a  meeting  was  held 
which  determined  on  choosing  delegates  to  a  conven- 
tion. This  was  to  decide  whether  or  not  to  ask  Con- 
gress to  erect  the  district  north  and  west  of  the  Colum- 
bia into  a  territorial  government.  Although  some  of 
the  people  living  along  the  river,  to  whom  Oregon  City 
was  more  convenient  than  Olympia,  objected  to  the 
plan,  the  proposed  meeting  was  held  on  the  25th  of 
November,  and  a  memorial  asking  for  the  change  sent 
to  General  Lane,  who  then  represented  the  territory  in 
Congress.  On  the  15th  of  January,  1853,  the  Oregon 
legislature,  sympathizing  with  the  demand  of  the  north- 
ern settlements,  adopted  a  similar  memorial ;  but  before 
this  reached  him  Lane  had  introduced  a  bill  for  creat- 
ing the  territory  of  Columbia.  It  passed  on  the  loth 
of  February,  1853,  with  the  name  Washington  substi- 
tuted for  Columbia,  a  change  with  which  the  people  of 
the  new  territory  were  very  well  satisfied.  General 
Isaac  I.  Stevens,  who  had  been  commissioned  to  survey 
a  northern  route  for  a  Pacific  railroad,  was  appointed 

1  Files  of  this  paper,  from  September,  1852,  to  December,  1853, 
the  entire  period  of  its  existence,  as  well  as  complete  files  of  the 
Pioneer  and  Democrat,  and  the  Puget  Sound  Herald,  were  con- 
sulted in  the  private  library  of  Hon.  C.  B.  Bagley  of  Seattle. 
The  writer  also  obtained  from  Mr.  Bagley  the  loan  of  his  files  of 
the  Washington  Statesman,  Walla  Walla,  which  proved  invalu- 
able for  the  study  of  the  early  history  of  the  "  Inland  Empire." 


Progress  and  Politics,   1 849-1 859         213 

governor.  He  arrived  at  Olympia  on  the  26th  of 
November,  1853,  and  the  new  organization  was  put  in 
operation.^ 

Beginnings  of  settlement  in  southern  Oregon. 
As  the  gold  discovery  promoted  the  prosperity  of  the 
Willamette  valley  and  Puget  Sound,  so  it  led  also  to  the 
planting  of  new  communities  in  other  favourable  dis- 
tricts of  the  Northwest.  The  region  known  as  south- 
ern Oregon  contains  the  two  important  valleys  of  the 
Umpqua  and  Rogue  rivers.  It  had  already  become 
known  to  the  pioneers,  partly  through  explorations  for 
a  southern  emigrant  road  made  in  1846  under  the  di- 
rection of  Jesse  Applegate. '  A  portion  of  the  emigra- 
tion of  that  and  the  following  years  came  to  the  Willa- 
mette over  this  route;  and  when  Oregon  men  began 
going  to  the  gold  mines  of  California,  the  country  be- 
came still  better  known.  Wagons  and  pack  trains, 
men  on  foot  and  on  horseback,  were  continually  pass- 
ing back  and  forth;  so  that  it  was  not  long  before  a 
few  individuals,  impressed  with  the  beauty  of  the  land- 
scape, the  excellence  of  the  grass  and  water,  and  the 

1  General  Stevens  was  a  trained  soldier  and  engineer,  a  gradu- 
ate of  West  Point.  His  success  in  finding  a  practicable  line 
for  a  railroad  immediately  gave  him  great  influence  with  the  peo- 
ple of  Washington,  who  believed  thoroughly  in  the  future  of 
their  section.  He  served  as  governor  till  1857,  was  then  elected 
delegate  to  Congress  from  the  territory,  remaining  in  that  posi- 
tion till  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War,  when  he  went  to  the 
field  of  action.  He  was  killed  while  gallantly  leading  his  divi- 
sion at  Chantilly.  The  "  Life  of  Isaac  Ingalls  Stevens,"  by  Haz- 
ard Stevens,  2  vols.,  Boston,  1900,  gives  a  full  account  of  his  serv- 
ices and  much  valuable  matter  on  the  history  of  the  Northwest. 


214       ^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

opportunities  for  farming  and  stock  raising,  began  to 
think  of  locating  claims  in  these  valleys. 

The  Umpqua  valley.  Jesse  Applegate,  who  was 
the  most  noted  explorer  of  southern  Oregon,  was  him- 
self led  to  settle  in  Umpqua  valley.^  In  the  spring 
of  1850,  he  with  a  number  of  others  organized  a  com- 
pany to  take  up  lands  and  establish  town  sites.  It 
happened  that  while  these  pioneers  were  making  their 
way  down  toward  the  sea,  they  met  a  party  of  Cali- 
fornians  who  had  entered  the  Umpqua  by  ship  for  the 
same  purpose.  The  two  companies  thus  accidentally 
brought  together  formed  a  new  association  which  un- 
dertook to  colonize  the  Umpqua  valley.  Settlers  and 
miners  quickly  overran  the  region.  The  county  of 
Umpqua,  embracing  the  whole  of  southern  Oregon, 
was  created  by  the  territorial  legislature  in  1851. 

Rogue  River  and  the  southern  coast.  The  valley 
of  Rogue  River  received  settlers  about  the  same  time, 
and  here  the  influence  of  gold  discoveries  was  strongly 
felt.  California  miners  had  already  prospected  the 
Sierras  to  the  borders  of  the  Oregon  country;  and  just 
at  the  close  of  the  year  1851  rich  placer  mines  were  dis- 
covered on  Jackson  Creek,  a  branch  of  Rogue  River. 
A  new  rush  began,  Californians  and  Oregonians  both 
taking  part  in  it,  so  that  in  a  very  short  time  the  village 
of  Jacksonville  had  a  population  of  several  hundred, 
and  a  number  of  other  mining  centres  were  established 

1  He  founded  and  named  the  town  Yoncalla,  which  became 
his  home.  General  Lane  also  took  a  claim  in  this  valley,  near 
the  town  of  Roseburg,  and  spent  his  declining  years  in  retirement. 


Progress  and  Politics,   1 849-1 859  215 

in  the  same  neighbourhood.  Settlers  pushed  in  at  the 
same  time  to  take  up  the  fertile  lands  along  the  Rogue 
River  and  its  branches.  While  these  things  were  going 
forward  in  the  upper  portions  of  the  valleys  of  south- 
ern Oregon,  settlements  were  also  begun  near  the 
mouths  of  the  rivers,  especially  at  Port  Orford  and 
about  Coos  Bay.  The  discovery  of  coal  near  Coos 
Bay  gave  it  a  large  trade  with  San  Francisco.  The 
various  centres  of  population  were  connected  with  one 
another  by  means  of  mountain  roads  and  trails;  the 
interest  in  gold  mining  stimulated  emigration,  and  a 
population  of  several  thousand  people  was  soon  to  be 
found  within  this  territory,  which  at  the  beginning  of 
the  California  gold  rush  was  an  absolute  wilderness, 
occupied  by  native  barbarians. 

Indian  outbreaks ;  the  Rogue  River  War.  When 
the  early  missionaries  and  settlers  came  to  Oregon  they 
found  the  Indians  under  the  control  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Fur  Company,  whose  officers  were  able  to  secure 
for  the  whites  such  lands  and  other  privileges  as  the 
Indians  had  to  bestow.  The  company  was  very  suc- 
cessful in  preventing  conflicts  between  the  two  races. 
Only  rarely  were  the  settlers  molested  by  the  natives 
during  these  years,  the  most  notable  exception  being  the 
W^hitman  massacre  in  1847.  When  the  United  States 
took  control,  in  1849,  the  situation  had  become  more 
difficult  to  handle.  Settlers  were  by  this  time  becom- 
ing numerous ;  the  Indians  had  begun  to  fear  for  the 
safety  of  their  lands,  and  thev  were  not  yet  convinced 
of  the  national  government's  power.     Soon  afterward 


2i6       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

troubles  began,  especially  in  the  newly  occupied  terri- 
tory of  southern  Oregon,  where  miners  and  travellers 
were  occasionally  murdered,  and  settlers  driven  from 
their  lands.  In  some  cases,  it  must  be  confessed,  the 
whites  were  to  blame  as  well  as  the  red  men.  But  the 
time  soon  came  when  the  tribes  of  southern  Oregon 
were  ready  to  go  on  the  war  path,  and  then  hundreds 
of  innocent  persons  suffered  the  untold  horrors  which 
have  always  marked  such  savage  outbreaks.  Men 
were  shot  down  on  the  highway  or  in  the  field ;  at  dead 
of  night  unprotected  families  were  besieged  in  their 
cabins,  the  men  killed  outright,  the  women  and  children 
enslaved,  and  homes  burned  to  the  ground ;  sometimes 
whole  settlements  were  either  massacred  or  driven 
away.  This  war,  usually  called,  from  the  most  ter- 
rible of  the  tribes  concerned  in  it,  the  Rogue  River 
War,  began  in  185 1.  It  lasted,  with  some  intermis- 
sions, till  1856,  when  the  Indians,  being  removed  to 
reservations,  the  settlers  were  at  last  secure  in  the  pos- 
session of  their  homes. ^ 

Other  Indian  wars.  Southern  Oregon  was  not  the 
only  section  of  the  Northwest  to  suffer  from  the  up- 
rising of  the  natives  during  this  period.  On  Puget 
Sound,  too,  the  Indians  began  to  murder  white  men  as 
early  as  1850,  though  no  general  outbreak  occurred  un- 
til several  years  later.  In  1854-185  5  General  Stevens, 
as  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs,  made  treaties  with 

1  In  this  war  General  Lane  performed  most  important  services 
for  Oregon,  both  as  warrior  and  peacemaker.  The  Indians  stood 
in  great  awe  of  him. 


Progress  and  Politics,    1849-18 59  217 

nearly  all  of  the  tribes  both  in  eastern  and  western 
Washington,  and  it  was  supposed  that  these  would  put 
an  end  to  all  conflict  between  the  two  races.  But  as  a 
matter  of  fact  the  natives,  seeing  the  country  filling  up 
with  white  people,  were  about  ready  for  a  general  war 
in  defence  of  what  they  considered  to  be  their  own 
country.  The  situation  here  was  not  different  from 
that  which  brought  on  the  great  Indian  wars  in  other 
sections  of  the  United  States.  Just  as  New  England 
had  its  King  Philip's  War,  and  the  middle  West  its 
struggles  with  Tecumseh  and  Black  Hawk,  so  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Pacific  Northwest,  when  settlement  threat- 
ened to  crowd  the  Indians  off  their  lands,  were  forced 
to  meet  great  combinations  of  native  tribes  under  Chief 
John,  Leschi,  Kamiakin,  and  others.  Except  in  south- 
ern Oregon,  these  wars  came  mainly  in  the  years  1855- 
1858.  They  included  many  harrowing  incidents,  like 
the  murder  of  the  settlers  in  White  River  valley  near 
Puget  Sound,  the  daring  attack  upon  the  little  village 
of  Seattle  in  the  spring  of  1856,  the  slaughter  of  the 
emigrants  on  the  Malheur  River,  and  massacres  at  the 
Cascades.  The  United  States  government  maintained 
troops  at  various  places  throughout  the  Northwest,  and 
in  some  cases  these  rendered  effective  service  dur- 
ing the  Indian  war ;  but  their  numbers  were  too  small  to 
meet  the  great  emergency,  while  difficulties  arose  be- 
tween the  territorial  officers  and  the  military  command- 
ers that  caused  the  burden  of  the  war  to  fall  mainly 
upon  the  people  themselves.  Volunteer  companies 
were  called  into  the  field,  who  with  some  severe  fighting 


2i8       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

and  much  attendant  hardship  were  able  to  bring  this 
distressing  period  to  a  close.  The  Indians  here  as  else- 
where found  it  necessary  to  accept  the  bounty  of  Con- 
gress in  the  shape  of  a  reservation,  with  pay  for  the 
lands  which  they  gave  up  to  the  government.  Most  of 
the  treaties  went  into  effect  in  1859. 

The  Oregon  constitutional  convention,  August  to 
September,  1857.  Several  years  prior  to  the  close  of 
the  Indian  wars,  the  question  of  statehood  for  Oregon 
began  to  be  seriously  discussed,  and  in  1856  a  bill  for 
admitting  the  territory  into  the  Union  was  introduced 
in  Congress  by  General  Lane.  Though  this  failed, 
another  bill  passed  the  House  at  the  next  session,  au- 
thorizing the  people  to  frame  a  state  constitution.  It 
did  not  pass  the  Senate,  but  the  legislature  of  Oregon 
Territory  had  already  provided  for  submitting  the  ques- 
tion of  holding  a  convention  to  the  voters  at  the  June 
(1857)  election.  It  was  carried  by  a  large  majority, 
delegates  were  chosen  from  the  several  counties,  and  on 
the  third  Monday  in  August  the  convention  met  in  the 
town  of  Salem.  September  18  a  state  constitution  was 
adopted,  which  being  submitted  to  the  people  was  rati- 
fied by  a  vote  of  7195  in  favor  to  3195  against.  The 
state  government  went  into  operation  in  July,  1858, 
although  Oregon  was  not  formally  admitted  to  the 
Union  till  the  14th  of  February,  1859.^ 

1  The  population  of  Oregon  in  i860  was  52,465,  and  of  Wash- 
ington Territory,  11,594. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE    INLAND    EMPIRE 

Extent  and  character  of  the  Inland  Empire.  The 
Indian  wars  of  the  Pacific  Northwest,  hke  those  of 
New  England,  western  New  York,  and  various  sections 
of  the  Mississippi  valley,  were  followed  by  a  period  in 
which  population  spread  rapidly  over  previously  un- 
occupied territory.  Thus  far  settlement  had  been 
practically  confined  to  the  region  between  the  Cascade 
Mountains  and  the  Pacific,  including  the  Willamette 
valley,  Puget  Sound,  the  Cowlitz  and  Columbia  dis- 
tricts, the  valleys  of  southern  Oregon,  and  a  few  points 
near  the  seacoast.  This  was  only  a  small  part  of  the 
Oregon  country,  the  eastern  section,  from  the  Cas- 
cades to  the  Rockies,  containing  more  than  three  times 
as  large  an  area.  Above  the  point  where  the  Colum- 
bia breaks  through  the  Cascades,  one  hundred  and 
ninety  miles  from  the  sea,  it  receives  branches  from 
the  north  whose  sources  lie  far  beyond  the  American 
boundary  of  49°,  others  from  the  south  rising  below 
the  426.  parallel,  and  still  others  from  every  part  of 
the  west  slope  of  the  Rockies  between  these  two  bound- 
ary lines.  They  drain  an  American  territory  embrac- 
ing about  two  hundred  thousand  square  miles,  nearly 
one- fourth  larger  than  the  combined  areas  of  the  New 

219 


2  20      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

England  states,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsyl- 
vania. A  portion  of  it  is  occupied  by  the  forested 
ranges  of  the  Bitter  Root  and  Blue  mountains;  but  in 
general  it  is  a  region  of  great  plains  and  elevated 
plateaus,  relieved  by  wooded  valleys  and  gently  sloping 
hills.  The  climate,  soil,  and  productions,  all  vary 
greatly  from  those  of  western  Oregon,  and  the  natives 
were  superior  to  the  western  Indians  in  intellect  as 
well  as  in  strength,  energy,  and  warlike  valour. 

Its  agricultural  possibilities  begin  to  be  under- 
stood. Owing  to  the  light  rainfall  over  the  greater 
portion  of  the  Inland  Empire,  some  early  travellers 
pronounced  the  entire  region  unfit  to  be  the  home  of 
civilized  man.  But  the  missionaries  proved  that  the 
natural  grasses  afforded  excellent  pasturage  for  cattle 
and  sheep,^  and  that  the  soil  in  many  places  would  pro- 
duce bounteous  crops  of  grain  and  vegetables  even 
without  irrigation,  while  with  an  artificial  supply  of 
water  surprising  results  could  be  obtained.  Several  of 
the  valleys,  like  Walla  Walla  and  the  Grand  Ronde, 
which  lay  in  the  path  of  the  emigrants  to  Oregon,  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  pioneers  at  an  early  time  by 
the  evident  fertility  of  their  lands;  and  as  early  as 
1847  it  seemed  certain  that  the  first  of  these  would 
soon  be  occupied  by  farmers.  But  the  Whitman  mas- 
sacre of  that  year  destroyed  these  prospects,  and  an- 

1  Dr.  Whitman  wrote  in  October,  1847,  just  before  his  death: 
"  The  interior  of  Oregon  is  unrivalled  by  any  country  for  the 
grazing  of  stock,  of  which  sheep  is  the  best.  This  interior  will 
now  be  sought  after." 


The  Inland  Empire  221 

other  decade  was  to  pass  away  before  plans  of  settle- 
ment could  be  resumed.  In  the  meantime  other  sec- 
tions of  the  Inland  Empire  were  beginning  to  receive 
attention  on  account  of  the  rich  farming  lands  they 
were  supposed  to  contain. 

General  Stevens's  observations.  When  General 
Stevens  reached  Olympia,  in  November,  1853,  after 
completing  the  survey  of  the  northern  railroad  route,  he 
declared  to  the  people  of  Puget  Sound  that  there  were 
several  great  stretches  of  territory  in  eastern  Washing- 
ton which  invited  settlement.  "  I  can  speak  advisedly," 
he  says,  "  of  the  beautiful  St.  Mary's  valley  just  west 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  stretching  across  the 
whole  breadth  of  the  territory;  of  the  plain  fifty  miles 
wide  bordering  the  south  bank  of  the  Spokane  River; 
of  the  valley  extending  from  Spokane  River  to  Colville; 
of  the  Cceur  d'Alene  Prairie  of  six  hundred  square 
miles ;  the  Walla  Walla  valley.  The  Nez  Perces  coun- 
try is  said  to  be  rich  as  well  as  the  country  bordering 
on  the  Yakima  River." 

The  Indian  -war  prevents  settlement.  His  treaties 
with  the  native  tribes  soon  afterward  were  expected  to 
throw  some  of  these  tracts  open,  and  other  treaties 
made  about  the  same  time  with  the  Indians  of  eastern 
Oregon  looked  to  the  settlement  of  portions  of  that 
country.  But  when  the  Indians  went  on  the  war  path 
in  1855  this  entire  region,  except  a  small  district  pro- 
tected by  the  military  post  at  the  Dalles,  was  once  more 
closed  to  the  peaceful  tiller  of  the  soil.  The  prairies 
and  open  river  valleys,  instead  of  being  dotted  over 


222       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

with  settlers'  cabins  or  the  white-sheeted  wagons  of 
emigrants,  were  traversed  in  all  directions  by  files  of 
marching  men,  and  troops  of  gallant  cavalry.  Yet 
this  only  served  to  make  the  whole  country  more  famil- 
iar to  the  people  of  western  Oregon  and  Washington, 
and  to  increase  the  desire  to  settle  there  as  soon  as  the 
Indian  troubles  should  be  over. 

Gold  hunting  east  of  the  Cascades.  By  this  time 
(1859)  there  was  an  additional  motive  for  emigration 
to  the  Inland  Empire.  Even  before  the  Indian  war 
there  had  been  more  or  less  prospecting  for  gold  in  the 
eastern  country,  and  in  1855  discoveries  were  made  at 
Colville,  though  at  that  time  little  could  be  done  with 
them.  In  the  years  1857-1858  occurred  a  rush  to 
Eraser  River  in  British  Columbia.  For  a  time  it  was 
supposed  this  region  would  prove  very  rich;  but  soon 
disappointments  crowded  upon  the  Americans  who  had 
gone  there,  and  a  great  outpouring  took  place.  The 
men  who  left  these  mines  spread  over  and  prospected 
large  sections  of  the  eastern  country,  with  results  only 
less  wonderful  than  those  obtained  in  California  ten 
years  earlier.  Rich  gold  districts  were  opened  near 
Colville ;  on  the  Clearwater,  Salmon  River,  Boise  River, 
John  Day's  River,  Burnt  River,  Powder  River;  the 
Owyhee,  Kootenai,  Deer  Lodge,  Beaverhead;  the 
Prickly  Pear,  and  other  places.  Calif ornians  streamed 
northward  as  Oregonians  had  gone  south  in  '48  and 
'49.  Mining  camps  grew  in  a  few  months  to  towns 
of  several  thousand  people,  and  sometimes  disappeared 
quite  as  rapidly,  when  richer  diggings  were  opened  else- 


The  Inland  Empire  223 

where,  or  water  for  gold  washing  failed.  By  rapid 
stages  the  prospectors  passed  up  the  several  branches 
of  the  Columbia,  until  they  stood  once  more  upon  the 
summit  of  the  Rockies,  this  time  coming  from  the 
west.  At  South  Pass,  Helena,  and  many  other  camps, 
they  met  and  mingled  with  the  crowds  of  gold  seekers 
arriving  from  the  East.  These  were  "  tender  feet  "  to 
the  rugged  men  who  had  spent  twelve  or  fifteen  years 
in  the  mining  districts  of  California,  British  Columbia, 
eastern  Oregon,  Washington,  and  Idaho,  and  who 
rather  gloried  in  the  name  "  yonder  siders,"  applied  to 
them  by  the  other  class. 

Carrying  supplies  to  the  mining  camps.  When 
the  miners  turned  toward  the  northeast  the  pack  trains 
headed  in  the  same  direction,  carrying  the  eager  gold 
seekers  with  their  outfits,  and  following  from  camp 
to  camp  with  regular  supplies  of  bacon  and  flour,  picks, 
shovels,  pans,  quicksilver,  and  other  necessities  of  the 
business.  From  ten  to  fifty  horses  or  mules  usually 
made  up  the  train,  though  sometimes  more  than  one 
hundred  animals  were  employed.  They  were  loaded 
with  packs  varying  from  two  hundred  to  four  hundred 
pounds.  At  first  many  of  these  trains  set  out  from  the 
Willamette  valley  directly,  crossing  the  Cascade  Moun- 
tains; but  in  a  very  short  time  (as  early  as  1862)  the 
Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Company,  with  headquarters 
at  Portland,  made  arrangements  for  carrying  goods  up 
the  river  as  far  as  old  Fort  Walla  Walla,  then  as  now 
called  Wallula.  Intermediate  points  were  The  Dalles 
and  Umatilla  Landing. 


2  24      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Walla  Walla  a  great  distributing  centre.  At 
Walla  Walla,  located  a  few  miles  above  the  site  of  the 
Whitman  mission,  a  military  post  had  been  established 
in  1856,  which  soon  drew  about  it  a  small  settlement. 
This  place  now  became  the  distributing  centre  for  a 
mining  region  embracing  nearly  the  whole  of  the  east- 
ern country.  The  Dalles  sent  goods  up  the  John  Day 
valley;  Umatilla  carried  to  Powder  River,  Owyhee, 
Boise  Basin,  and  a  few  other  places  in  eastern  Oregon 
and  southern  Idaho;  but  Walla  Walla  sent  its  pack 
trains  not  only  to  most  of  these  camps,  but  to  Colville, 
Kootenai,  the  Salmon  and  the  Clearwater,  the  Prickly 
Pear  and  the  upper  Missouri.  The  trails  radiated  in 
all  directions  from  this  little  town,  and  during  the 
packing  season  long  lines  of  horses  and  mules  were  ever 
coming  and  going.  In  winter  the  feeding  yards  of  the 
valley  were  filled  with  poor,  worn  creatures,  whose 
scarred  backs  and  ugly  girth  marks  proved  the  class  to 
which  they  belonged.^  The  packers  themselves  were 
an  important  social  element  in  Walla  Walla  and 
Wallula.  Sometimes  they  gave  grand  balls  which  the 
entire  community  would  attend.  Many  of  them  were 
enterprising  young  men  who  have  since  made  them- 
selves felt  in  business  and  professional  life. 

The  Montana  trade  by  steamboat  and  wagon. 

^The  number  of  pack  animals  maintained  in  the  valley  is 
almost  incredible.  In  the  winter  of  1866-1867  between  five  hun- 
dred and  six  hundred  were  kept  within  seven  miles  of  Wallula. 
During  ten  days  in  the  month  of  July,  1869,  when  times  were 
dull,  trains  aggregating  five  hundred  and  fifty-nine  packs  were 
fitted  out  at  Walla  Walla. 


The  Inland  Empire  225 

The  Columbia  River,  though  affording  with  its 
branches  over  two  thousand  miles  of  navigable  water, 
is  divided  into  sections  by  frequent  natural  obstruc- 
tions like  the  Cascades,  Dalles,  Great  Falls,  and  Priest's 
Rapids.  As  the  interior  trade  grew,  the  navigation 
company  built  boats  on  section  after  section,  until  it 
became  possible  to  go  from  Portland  to  Lake  Pend 
d'Oreille  on  the  North  Fork  almost  wholly  by  water. 
This  development  resulted  in  part  from  the  opening  of 
trade  with  the  Rocky  jMountain  country.  Active  min- 
ing operations  began  in  what  is  now  Montana,  but  then 
eastern  Washington  and  western  Dakota,  in  1862. 
The  earliest  diggings  were  located  west  of  the  Rockies, 
but  soon  rich  discoveries  were  made  east  of  the  moun- 
tains also.  Packers  from  Walla  \\'alla  crossed  over  at 
once,  carrying  hundreds  of  tons  of  supplies  at  very 
great  expense.  A  military  road,  from  Fort  Benton  on 
the  upper  Missouri  to  Walla  Walla,  had  been  con- 
structed between  the  years  1859  and  1862,  under  the  di- 
rection of  Captain  John  Mullan.  It  was  always  pass- 
able for  pack  trains,  but  soon  fell  into  such  a  state  of 
disrepair  that  loaded  wagons  could  not  safely  pass  over 
it.  Soon  the  demand  became  loud  for  the  reopening  of 
this  highway.  Work  was  done  upon  it  at  various  times, 
with  the  result  that  many  wagons,  drawn  by  six  or  eight 
pairs  of  mules,  carried  flour  and  bacon,  produced  in 
the  Willamette  valley,  from  the  head  of  navigation  on 
the  Columbia  to  Helena  on  the  Missouri,  a  distance  of 
only  al)out  six  hundred  miles. 

Competition    between    East    and    West;    rapid 


226       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

growth  of  Portland.  Pacific  coast  commodities  now 
came  into  competition  with  those  brought  from  St. 
Louis  in  many  little  steamboats;  and  thus  the  predic- 
tions of  Mr.  Floyd  were  in  a  way  fulfilled :  a  commer- 
cial route  had  been  opened  across  the  continent  hy 
steamboat  and  zvagon.  The  city  of  Portland,  as  the 
western  emporium  of  this  trade  with  the  Inland  Em- 
pire and  Montana,  entered  upon  a  period  of  rapid 
and  substantial  growth,  which  has  continued  almost 
unbroken  to  the  present  time. 

Agriculture  in  the  Walla  Walla  valley.  From 
the  beginning  of  this  migration  toward  the  interior, 
the  most  favourable  portions  of  the  country  were 
eagerly  sought  after  by  those  wishing  to  engage  in 
agriculture  or  stock  raising.  The  rapid  progress  of 
mining  stimulated  this  movement,  so  that  in  spite  of  the 
long  delay  in  beginning  the  settlement  of  the  Inland 
Empire,  a  farming  population  finally  spread  over  its 
fertile  valleys  and  plains  much  more  rapidly  than  would 
have  been  the  case  if  no  gold  rush  had  occurred.  The 
first  district  to  be  occupied  was  the  Walla  Walla  valley, 
where  the  presence  of  the  United  States  military  post 
afforded  a  home  market  for  products,  and  where  the 
lands  were  not  only  fertile  but  easily  tilled,  compara- 
tively well  watered,  and  conveniently  near  to  the 
Columbia  River  and  the  lower  settlements.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  this  valley  was  about  to  be  occupied 
in  1847,  when  the  Whitman  massacre  suddenly  drove 
all  whites  west  of  the  Cascades.  A  few  pioneers  held 
claims  there  at  the  outbreak  of  the  later  Indian  war, 


The  Inland  Empire  227 

and  these  had  to  be  abandoned  also.  When  the  treaties 
were  completed  in  1859,  many  persons  were  ready  to 
take  up  lands  in  the  country,  while  the  emigration  of 
that  year  furnished  several  hundred  settlers.^  In  i860 
Walla  Walla  County  had  1300  white  people,  and  within 
the  next  six  years  the  government  surveyed  about  750,- 
000  acres  of  land  in  the  valley,  most  of  which  was  im- 
mediately taken  up  for  agricultural  purposes.  The 
chief  crop  was  wheat,  which  yielded  at  the  rate  of  forty 
to  fifty  bushels,  and  was  turned  into  flour  for  export 
to  the  numerous  mining  camps  supplied  from  this  cen- 
tre. In  1865  the  amount  thus  sent  out  was  7000  bar- 
rels. At  the  same  time  other  products,  like  hay,  onions, 
potatoes,  and  wool,  were  shipped  down  the  river.  In 
1870  Walla  Walla  County  had  5174  inhabitants.  By 
that  time  the  valley  was  fairly  well  settled,  containing 
many  beautiful  farms,  with  comfortable  and  even  hand- 
some dwellings,  surrounded  by  gardens,  fruit  orchards, 
and  ornamental  trees. 

Settlement  of  the  Grand  Ronde  valley.  For 
many  years  the  emigrants  to  Oregon  had  passed  with 
regret  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Grand  Ronde,  nestled 
so  peacefully  among  the  Blue  Mountains.  After  all 
danger  from  the  natives  had  been  removed,  and  the 
Walla  Walla  country  partly  filled  up,  settlers  began  to 
take  claims  in  this  attractive  region,  notwithstanding 

1  The  Olympia  Pioneer  and  Democrat  of  September  30,  1859, 
says  that  eight  hundred  emigrants  had  settled  in  the  Walla  Walla 
valley,  while  twenty  families  had  taken  claims  on  the  Yakima,  and 
thirty  on  the  Klickitat  and  through  the  country  from  the  Dalles 
to  Fort  Simcoe   (on  the  Yakima). 


% 


228       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

its  distance  from  the  sea.  A  few  were  left  there  by  the 
emigration  of  1861,  but  it  was  the  great  company  of 
1862  which  finally  occupied  the  country.  About  two 
thousand,  so  the  newspapers  of  the  time  declare,  re- 
mained in  the  valley,  while  the  rest,  some  eight  thou- 
sand, went  down  the  Columbia.  The  first  winter  was 
one  of  great  privations;  but  the  next  summer  a  crop 
was  raised  on  the  newly  broken  lands,  which  furnished 
an  abundance  of  provisions.  La  Grande  was  the  prin- 
cipal town,  and  soon  became  the  county  seat  of  Union 
County,  which  included  the  Grand  Ronde  within  its 
boundaries.  From  the  first  it  was  a  place  of  consider- 
able importance,  being  the  supply  centre  for  the  valley 
until  other  towns,  like  Union,  Summerville,  and  Oro 
Dell,  divided  the  territory  with  her.  A  wagon  road 
built  in  1863  connected  the  Grand  Ronde  valley  with 
Walla  Walla  for  trading  purposes,  while  other  roads 
and  trails  made  it  possible  for  this  upper  settlement  to 
send  its  products  to  the  mines  of  Boise  valley,  Owyhee, 
and  other  places.  The  abundance  of  timber  on  the 
slopes  of  the  Blue  Mountains,  and  the  fine  water  power 
of  the  mountain  streams,  promoted  the  building  of  saw- 
mills, of  which  there  were  four  in  1864.  A  description 
of  the  valley,  written  in  the  spring  of  1868,  indicates 
that  excellent  progress  had  been  made  in  the  first  five 
years  after  settlement  began.  "  The  waste  prairie  has 
changed  to  fenced  and  cultivated  farms,  and  in  all  direc- 
tions the  handiwork  of  intelligence  and  Industry  is 
visible.  Comfortable  houses  and  outhouses  have  been 
built,  orchards  planted;  from  the  poor  emigrant  has 


The  Inland  Empire  229 

sprung  the  well-to-do  farmer."  County  roads  crossed 
the  valley  in  all  directions,  while  two  good  toll  roads 
had  been  built  through  it.  The  population  of  Union 
County  in  1870  was  2552. 

Other  agricultural  settlements.  These  two  illus- 
trations of  the  Walla  Walla  and  Grand  Ronde  valleys 
are  sufficient  to  show  how  population  spread  over  the 
fine  farming  districts  of  the  Inland  Empire  during  the 
years  immediately  following  the  gold  rush  to  this 
region.  Many  other  districts  had  a  similar  history. 
Boise  valley,  Powder  River,  the  Clearwater  and  Spo- 
kane, the  high  valleys  of  western  Montana, —  all  had 
their  farming  communities,  producing  such  supplies  as 
the  mining  districts  could  use.  The  Yakima  valley 
east  of  the  Columbia  was  situated  much  like  the  Walla 
Walla,  and  was  settled  about  the  same  time.  By  1870 
the  amount  of  produce  seeking  a  market  from  the 
upper  Columbia  was  already  larger  than  the  demand  to 
be  supplied  in  that  country,  although  only  a  small  frac- 
tion of  the  tillable  lands  had  as  yet  been  taken  up.  The 
people  needed  better  means  of  transportation,  in  order 
that  they  might  ship  their  wheat  and  flour  down  the 
river  to  a  larger  and  more  stable  market.  The  entire 
inland  country  waited  impatiently  for  railroads  to  con- 
nect its  scattered  communities,  and  to  afford  the  much- 
desired  outlet  to  the  sea.^ 

1  A  short  line  of  railroad,  from  Walla  Walla  to  Wallula,  was 
first  projected  as  early  as  1862;  but  it  was  not  until  1868  that 
active  work  was  begun  upon  it.  Tlie  road  was  completed  in  1874, 
largely  through  the  energy  and  financial  enterprise  of  Dr.  D.  S. 
Baker.     It  was  the  first  railroad  in  the  territory  of  Washington. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE   AGE   OF   RAILWAYS 

The  Inland  Empire  was  not  alone  in  demanding  rail- 
road facilities  at  this  time.  As  yet  the  entire  Pacific 
Northwest  was  lacking  in  this  essential  means  of  de- 
velopment, and  the  people  everywhere  were  insisting 
that  railways  be  built. 

Pioneer  projects  for  railroads  to  the  Pacific. 
Shortly  before  the  settlement  of  the  Oregon  country 
by  the  pioneers  during  the  'forties,  railways  had  become 
an  assured  success  in  the  eastern  portions  of  the  United 
States.  Twenty  years  earlier,  when  Congress  was  en- 
gaged in  discussing  the  prospect  of  planting  a  future 
American  colony  near  the  Pacific,  Mr.  Floyd  conceived 
of  a  communication,  by  steamboat  and  wagon,  between 
the  mouth  of  the  Missouri  and  the  mouth  of  the  Colum- 
bia. The  transition  was  easy  from  such  a  conception 
to  that  of  a  steamboat  and  railway  communication,  and 
this  was  suggested  as  soon  as  railway  building  in  the 
United  States  had  made  some  progress.  In  1836  Levi 
Beardsley,  speaking  in  the  New  York  State  Senate  on  a 
bill  for  completing  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad, 
said:  "Is  it  extravagant  to  believe  that  before  an- 
other thirty-six  years  expire  we  shall  not  only  have  an 

230 


The  Age  of  Railways  231 

organized  state  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains,  but  a 
steamboat  and  railroad  communication  from  St.  Louis 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River?  .  .  .  With  rail- 
road and  steamboat  communication  from  New  York 
to  St.  Louis,  and  from  thence  to  the  Columbia  River, 
the  vi^hole  distance  may  be  traversed  in  twenty  days, 
and  thus  open  a  direct  communication  with  China." 
In  1839  another  New  York  man  wrote:  "  Figure  to 
yourself  a  large  city  near  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia, 
with  a  railway  across  the  mountains,  and  a  canal 
around  the  falls  and  rapids."  About  the  same  time  a 
plan  for  a  railroad  to  Oregon  was  said  to  be  under  dis- 
cussion at  Dubuque,  Iowa.  This  plan  the  editor  of  the 
Oregonian,  of  Lynn,  Mass.,  ridiculed  as  a  visionary, 
impracticable  scheme.  He  saw  overwhelming  diffi- 
culties in  the  way,  and  even  if  the  construction  were 
possible,  the  cost  would  be  prohibitive  —  from  thirty 
to  fifty  millions  —  and  besides  it  would  he  dangerous  to 
run  cars  through  the  Indian  country! 

Asa  Whitney's  Plan.  When,  a  few  years  later, 
the  man  appeared  who  had  a  definite  practicable  plan 
for  getting  a  Pacific  railway  built,  the  driving  motive 
was  still  the  age-old  idea  of  a  trade  with  China.  This 
man  was  Asa  Whitney,  who  had  travelled  in  the 
Orient  and  gained  the  idea  that  a  transcontinental 
railway,  which  would  control  the  Chinese  trade, 
would  give  the  United  States  a  stupendous  commercial 
advantage  over  European  countries;  and  he  naturally 
believed  that  those  who  would  supply  this  railway  link 
would  themselves  profit  enormously  from  the  new  de- 


232       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

velopment  of  wealth  which  would  follow  as  a  conse- 
quence. 

Mr.  Whitney  had  observed  the  liberality  with  which 
Congress  granted  lands  to  aid  canal  construction  in 
some  of  the  states  and  saw  no  reason  why  a  policy  even 
more  liberal  might  not  be  pursued  in  the  case  of  a  rail- 
road extending  through  national  territory  which  with- 
out transportation  facilities  would  not  be  likely  to  set- 
tle up  for  many  years.  An  adequate  land  grant  being 
secured  along  the  proposed  railway  line,  he  could 
finance  the  construction  of  the  road  by  selling  the  lands 
nearest  the  line  as  the  building  proceeded.  He  ap- 
pears to  have  thought  that  settlers  could  be  tolled  along 
section  after  section  of  the  road,  as  these  sections  were 
completed,  and  thus  business  for  the  road  would  be 
created  as  fast  as  the  rails  could  be  laid  down.  In  this 
expectation  Mr.  Whitney  was  ignoring  the  lessons 
taught  by  the  history  of  American  expansion.  This 
proves  that  tongues  of  settlement  will  never  penetrate 
indefinitely  into  the  wilderness,  even  along  water 
courses  affording  free  transportation  facilities.  Ex- 
pansion has  been  a  mass  movement  as  well  as  an  indi- 
vidual movement. 

Whitney  desired  a  land  grant.  Whitney  asked 
the  government  to  grant  him  a  belt  of  land  sixty 
miles  wide,  from  Lake  Michigan  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Columbia  River,  or  to  Puget  Sound,  which- 
ever route  for  the  railroad  should  be  finally  de- 
cided upon.  He  launched  his  scheme  as  early  as  1843 
and  made  a  very  active  campaign  for  his  land  grant. 


The  Age  of  Railivays  233 

He  issued  pamphlets,  solicited  favourable  resolutions 
from  commercial  bodies,  state  legislatures,  etc.,  and 
made  a  vigorous  convass  at  Washington.  "  If  I  can 
get  the  grant  of  lands,"  said  Whitney,  "  I  can  build  the 
road.  In  a  few  months  after  the  grant  the  work  shall 
be  commenced  and  far  sooner  than  I  had  dared  to  hope 
it  can  be  completed,  when  we  shall  have  the  whole  world 
tributary  to  us  —  when  the  commerce  of  the  whole 
would  shall  be  tumbled  into  our  lap." 

In  the  summer  of  1845  Whitney  visited  the  great 
plains  country  and  was  more  than  ever  convinced  of  the 
feasibility  of  his  plan.  But  it  does  not  appear  that  he 
made  even  a  casual  survey  of  the  proposed  route  from 
the  Missouri  westward.  All  this,  as  well  as  the  con- 
struction of  the  road,  was  left  to  be  done  after  Con- 
gress should  pass  the  land  grant  bill.  For  this  he 
pressed  with  redoubled  energy  in  1845,  being  especially 
anxious  to  secure  it  before  Wisconsin  and  Iowa  terri- 
tories should  become  states,  which  he  foresaw  would 
complicate  his  problem. 

Objections  to  the  Plan;  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 
Whitney's  project  encountered  several  obstacles. 
For  one  thing,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  who 
was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Territories  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  had  a  railroad  plan  of  his 
own  which  differed  materially  from  that  of  Mr.  Whit- 
ney. Douglas  proposed  to  organize  at  once  two  new 
territories,  Oregon  and  Nebraska,  which,  with  Iowa 
territory,  would  contain  the  railway  route  from  the 
Mississippi  to  the  Pacific.     He  would  then  grant  to 


234       ^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

each  of  the  three  territories  alternate  sections  of  land 
for  a  reasonable  distance  on  each  side  of  the  proposed 
road  on  the  distinct  condition  that  the  proceeds  from 
the  sale  of  these  lands  should  be  devoted  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  road.  The  work  might  then  be  carried 
on  either  as  a  public  venture,  or  let  out  to  private  par- 
ties as  the  states  concerned  should  determine. 

George  Wilkes  and  his  proposed  Government 
Railway.  Second,  when  Whitney's  scheme  came  be- 
fore Congress  it  was  severely  criticised  by  Mr.  George 
Wilkes  of  New  York,  especially  in  a  pamphlet  issued 
early  in  1845  under  the  title  "  A  History  of  Oregon." 
Wilkes  pronounced  Whitney's  plan  a  scheme  to  rob  the 
government  of  its  western  lands  for  the  benefit  of  the 
promoter  and  his  associates.  He  pointed  out  that, 
since  Whitney  proposed  to  sell  government  lands  to 
procure  funds  for  building  his  road,  to  grant  the  lands 
to  him  would  be  equivalent  to  presenting  him  with  the 
desired  railroad  —  a  gift  of  unexampled  munificence. 
But  that  was  not  all.  The  money  for  building  the  road 
would  be  secured  from  the  sale  of  only  a  portion  of  the 
lands  demanded.  The  balance  of  the  lands  would  re- 
main in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Whitney's  company  to  enrich 
them  in  a  yet  more  fabulous  manner. 

Wilkes  presented  to  Congress  the  obvious  alterna- 
tive in  the  suggestion  that  the  government  sell  its  own 
lands  and  build  its  own  railroad  out  of  the  proceeds  of 
such  land  sales.  He  believed  it  feasible  by  this  means 
to  construct  the  road  within  a  reasonable  time  and 
without  in  any  way  burdening  the  government.     He 


The  Age  of  Railways  235 

proposed  to  carry  the  road  across  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains by  the  route  the  emigrating  parties  were  taking, 
through  South  Pass,  to  the  Columbia.  From  the 
Columbia,  near  its  junction  with  Snake  River,  the  road 
was  to  cross  the  Cascades  to  Puget  Sound.  Whitney 
had  proposed  either  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  or 
Puget  Sound  as  the  terminus  of  his  road,  though  his 
views  were  sufficiently  elastic  to  allow  him  to  substi- 
tute San  Francisco  Bay  should  such  a  course  prove 
more  agreeable  to  Congress. 

The  rival  plans  of  Whitney  and  Wilkes  were  pressed 
with  so  much  zeal,  and  divided  support  so  evenly,  that 
neither  plan  was  able  to  command  the  approval  of 
Congress.  However,  the  contest  provoked  a  vast 
amount  of  railway  discussion,  it  called  out  resolutions 
of  state  and  territorial  legislatures,  and  it  led  directly 
to  the  holding  of  railway  conventions  which  fed  the  ris- 
ing flame  of  public  interest  and  served  to  focus  atten- 
tion more  and  more  upon  the  practical  aspects  of  the 
problem. 

Connection  with  Fremont's  third  journey. 
In  my  opinion,  this  discussion  probably  constituted 
one  reason  for  the  government's  action  in  sending  Lieu- 
tenant John  C.  Fremont  west  on  a  new  exploring  expe- 
dition in  the  summer  of  1845.  He  crossed  from  the 
upper  Arkansas  through  the  then  Mexican  territory 
lying  south  of  the  forty-second  parallel,  and  emerged 
at  Sutter's  Fort  on  the  Sacramento.  In  his  further 
efforts  to  carry  out  his  explorations  he  encountered  the 
hostility  of  the  Mexican  officials  in  California  and 


236      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

finally  joined  the  party  of  revolution  which  overthrew 
the  Mexican  rule  there.  Fremont  later  testified  that 
his  mission  was  to  survey  for  a  railroad  to  San  Fran- 
cisco Bay,  and  on  that  theory  alone  can  his  movements 
be  fully  explained. 

In  any  event,  it  was  now  seen  that  logically  the  first 
step  in  securing  a  Pacific  railroad  was  not  a  land  grant 
but  a  careful  preliminary  survey  to  determine  the  best 
line  for  such  a  work ;  and  the  government's  engineering 
service  was  amply  equipped  for  making  such  a  survey 
or  surveys.  Accordingly,  Congress  was  appealed  to  in 
this  matter,  and  on  the  3rd  of  March,  1853,  the  law  was 
passed  which  provided  for  the  great  Pacific  Railroad 
Surveys.  All  promising  routes  were  to  be  investigated 
—  such  as  the  route  made  familiar  through  the  journey 
of  Lewis  and  Clark,  the  routes  of  Pike,  Long,  and  Fre- 
mont, and  those  reported  on  by  officers  connected  with 
the  military  campaigns  in  New  Mexico  and  California. 
The  Secretary  of  War  was  to  direct  the  surveys  and  a 
large  measure  of  discretion  was  necessarily  reserved  to 
him. 

The  Pacific  railway  surveys.  Secretary  Jefferson 
Davis  caused  to  be  examined  four  routes  from  the 
Mississippi  to  the  Pacific.  One  w^as  a  northern  route, 
two  central  and  one  southern.  The  northern  route 
ran  near  the  head  of  the  Missouri,  one  of  the  two  cen- 
tral routes  ran  near  the  forty-second  parallel  (the 
South  Pass  route),  the  other  some  three  or  four 
degrees  further  south.  The  southern  route  was  near 
the  thirty-second  parallel. 


The  Age  of  Railways  237 

The  northern  survey  was  placed  in  charge  of  Major 
(afterwards  General)  Isaac  Ingalls  Stevens,  who  about 
this  time  was  appointed  governor  of  the  newly  created 
Territory  of  W^ashington.  Colonel  J.  C.  Fremont, 
Captain  Stansbury  and  Lieutenant  Beckwith  surveyed 
the  South  Pass  route.  Captain  Gunnison  was  given 
the  south  central  route,  while  Captain  John  Pope, 
Lieutenant  Parke,  Major  Emory  and  Lieutenant  Wil- 
liamson took  the  southern,  which  included  surveys  from 
the  Colorado  River  to  San  Francisco  Bay. 

Three  practicable  routes  revealed.  The  great 
work,  whose  results  are  embodied  in  a  magnificent 
series  of  volumes,  was  completed  in  about  two 
years.  It  showed  the  practicability  of  three  routes, 
the  northern,  the  southern  and  the  one  by  South  Pass, 
which  thereafter  was  usually  called  the  Central  route. 
It  rested  with  the  Secretary  of  War,  Jefferson  Davis, 
to  determine  which  of  the  three  feasible  routes  pos- 
sessed the  most  marked  advantages  as  to  length,  econ- 
omy of  construction,  etc.,  and  he  very  naturally  decided 
in  favour  of  the  southern.  "  Not  only,"  said  Davis, 
"  is  this  the  shortest  and  least  costly  route  to  the  Pacific, 
but  it  is  the  shortest  and  cheapest  route  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, the  greatest  commercial  city  on  our  western 
coast." 

The  Union  Pacific  Company  formed.  A  loca- 
tion contest  now  ensued  in  which  Davis  was 
charged  by  General  Stevens  with  unfair  discrimina- 
tion against  the  northern  route.  Stevens  advocated 
the  construction  of  three  lines  of  road,  the  Northern, 


238       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Central,  and  Southern  Pacific  Railways.  The  Pacific 
railroad  became  a  sectional  issue  between  the  North 
and  the  Cotton  South  so  that  at  no  time  prior  to  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  was  it  possible  to  obtain 
legislation  establishing  such  a  road. 

When  the  Lower  South  seceded  and  the  Union  was 
temporarily  contracted,  the  time  seemed  ripe  for  Con- 
gressional action,  especially  since  a  railway  was  needed 
to  bind  the  far  western  communities  to  the  Union  as 
well  as  for  defence  against  the  Indians.  On  July  i, 
1862,  President  Lincoln  signed  a  bill  "  to  aid  in  the 
construction  of  a  railroad  and  telegraph  line  from  the. 
Missouri  River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  to  secure  to 
the  Government  the  use  of  the  same  for  postal,  mili- 
tary, and  other  purposes."  The  Union  Pacific  Rail- 
way Company,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000,000, 
was  organized  to  build  the  road.  The  company  was 
to  receive  five  alternate  sections  of  land  on  each  side 
of  its  right  of  way,  and  an  additional  subsidy  in  the 
form  of  $16,000  of  United  States  bonds,  bearing  six 
per  cent  interest,  for  every  mile  of  road  constructed. 
Later  modifications  of  these  terms  made  them  still 
more  advantageous  to  the  company. 

The  Central  Pacific.  A  second  company,  called 
the  Central  Pacific  Company,  which  ultimately  con- 
structed a  large  proportion  of  the  total  mileage,  had 
its  origin  in  California.  Railroad  agitation  there  had 
been  persistent  and  almost  continuous  since  1850.  A 
number  of  projects  were  broached  which  proved  un- 
successful, yet  with  characteristic  optimism  the  peo- 


The  Age  of  Railways  239 

pie  continued  to  hope  and  to  plan  for  a  transcontinental 
line.  The  Panama  Railway,  completed  in  the  early 
Fifties,  although  calculated  to  aid  in  the  development 
of  California,  proved  inadequate  from  many  points  of 
view,  partly  because  of  the  length,  tediousness  and 
expensiveness  of  the  route.  For  the  improvement  of 
the  mail  service  the  "  Pony  Express  "  had  been  or- 
ganized, which  connected  with  the  telegraph  line  of  the 
Missouri  frontier  and  made  the  cities  of  Denver,  Salt 
Lake  and  San  Francisco.  This  was  followed  by  the 
Overland  Stage  Line,  covering  similar  routes.  The 
stage  company  built  several  excellent  roads  over  the 
Sierras  and  these  became  serviceable  for  freighting 
goods  into  Nevada,  Utah,  Idaho,  and  other  mining 
regions. 

But  all  of  this  development  was  merely  prophetic  of 
the  railway,  and  in  1861  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad 
Company  was  organized  by  Stanford,  Huntington, 
Hopkins,  and  Judah.  The  company  at  the  outset  in- 
tended to  build  from  Sacramento  through  the  Sierras. 
Finally,  through  a  successful  appeal  to  Congress,  they 
were  granted  terms  similar  to  those  of  the  Union 
Pacific  Company,  and  were  encouraged  to  build  east- 
ward until  they  should  meet  the  construction  parties  of 
the  Union  Pacific. 

A  railroad  building.  Congress,  ^n  fact,  by  its 
overliberal  subsidies  in  land  and  bonds,  had  provided 
the  incentive  for  a  construction  contest  such  as  the 
world  had  not  yet  seen.  Each  of  the  two  roads,  one 
starting   from   Sacramento,   the   other   from   Omaha, 


240       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

wished  to  cover  as  many  miles  as  possible  because 
each  mile  of  rails  laid  down  meant  ten  square  miles 
of  land  and  $16,000  of  bonds.  The  western 
company  started  first,  breaking  ground  February  22, 
1863,  and  before  the  close  of  the  year  1867  its 
line  projected  east  of  the  Sierras.  The  Union  Pacific 
delayed  until  1865,  but  the  nature  of  the  ground  enabled 
it  to  build  westward  from  Omaha  at  a  high  rate  of 
speed  which  however  could  not  be  maintained  on  reach- 
ing the  Rocky  Mountains.  Meantime  the  Central 
Pacific,  having  overcome  its  chief  geographical  ob- 
stacles early  in  the  work,  and  being  fortunate  in  its 
control  of  a  steady  and  adequate  supply  of  Chinese 
coolie  labour,  gained  in  speed  from  year  to  year  so 
that,  instead  of  meeting  the  Union  Pacific  in  the  foot- 
hills of  the  Sierras  as  the  latter  expected,  the  two  com- 
panies actually  met  at  Promontory  Point,  Utah,  where 
the  ceremony  of  "  Driving  the  Golden  Spike "  oc- 
curred on  May  10,  1869,  in  the  presence  of  throngs  of 
visitors  from  both  coasts  and  from  many  interior 
points.  From  Sacramento  the  road  was  extended  to 
San  Francisco  Bay,  which  was  the  real  terminus  in  the 
west. 

A  railroad  for  Oregon.  To  have  an  overland 
railway,  like  the  Central  Railway,  meant  much  in 
every  way  to  the  Pacific  Northwest,  although  its 
benefits  to  that  region  fell  correspondingly  far  below 
those  conferred  upon  the  more  fortunate  south. 
The  line  only  touched  the  Oregon  country  at  the 
southeast  corner  and  did  not  furnish  direct  service 


The  Age  of  Railways  241 

to  any  portion  of  its  people.  There  was  need  for 
other  Hnes,  some  of  which  might  perhaps  connect 
with  the  Central,  such  as  a  line  from  the  Sacra- 
mento north  to  the  Willamette  and  one  by  the  old  emi- 
grant trail  from  Fort  Hall  to  the  Columbia. 

California  parties  had  projected  a  railway  north- 
ward from  the  Sacramento  at  an  early  day,  but  con- 
struction finally  was  begun  at  Portland,  Oregon,  in 
April,  1868,  when  ground  was  broken  for  two  roads, 
one  to  run  on  the  east  side  of  the  Willamette  River, 
the  other  on  the  west  side.  The  east  side  railway  — 
The  Oregon  and  California  —  was  completed  to  Rose- 
burg  in  the  Umpqua  valley  during  the  year  1873. 
From  that  point  south  to  the  upper  Sacramento/ the 
Oregon  and  California  stage  covered  the  difficult  sec- 
tion through  the  Siskiyous  until  1887,  when  the  rail- 
way was  completed  and  the  isolated  valleys  of  South- 
ern Oregon  were  brought  into  close  relations  with  the 
Willamette  and  the  Columbia. 

Entrance  of  Henry  Villard.  It  was  the  Oregon 
and  California  Railway  whose  financial  problems 
brought  to  the  North  Pacific  that  great  organizing 
genius,  Henry  Villard.  Once  interested  in  the  rail- 
way development  of  the  region,  Mr.  Villard  un- 
dertook, as  an  initial  project,  the  opening  of  a 
complete  system  of  railways  along  the  Columbia,  on 
the  south  bank,  to  connect  Portland  with  The  Dalles 
and  the  Inland  Empire.  In  the  early  days  of  the  gold 
rush  to  the  Inland  Empire,  as  we  have  seen,  Portland 
business  men  and  financiers  had  organized  the  Oregon 


242       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Steam  Navigation  Company,  to  build  and  operate 
boats  on  the  successive  reaches  of  the  Columbia  River 
divided  from  one  another  by  portages.  Around  the 
principal  portages,  like  the  Cascades  and  the  Dalles  to 
Celilo  Falls,  this  company  had  built  railways  and  these 
were  the  earliest  railways  in  Oregon.  Villard  or- 
ganized, with  these  men,  a  new  company  called  the 
Oregon  Railway  and  Navigation  Company,  which  ab- 
sorbed the  Portage  railways  and  other  properties  of 
the  Navigation  Company,  and  constructed  a  continu- 
ous line  from  Portland  eastward  to  Baker  City  in 
Powder  River  Valley.  Afterwards  this  road  was  con- 
tinued, practically  on  the  line  of  the  old  emigrant  route, 
to  Granger,  Wyoming,  where  it  connected  with  the 
Union  Pacific. 

Villard  saves  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 
Villard,  meantime,  was  called  upon  to  save  the 
Northern  Pacific  Railway  which  had  encountered  great 
financial  difficulties  and,  after  a  period  of  intense  build- 
ing activity,  this  line  was  completed  in  September, 
1883,  giving  the  Northwest  at  last  a  direct  line  of  rail 
communication  with  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  the 
East.  The  celebration  of  the  event,  September  8, 
1883,  when  Mr.  Villard  drove  the  last  spike  at  a  place 
in  Western  Montana,  was  similar  to  the  Driving  of 
the  Golden  Spike  on  the  Union  Pacific  at  Promontory 
Point,  Utah,  fourteen  years  earlier.  Throngs  of  vis- 
itors from  both  sides  of  the  continent  had  been  gath- 
ered there  and  were  being  cared  for  as  guests  of  the 
company.     A  number  of  distinguished  Europeans  were 


The  Age  of  Railways  243 

among  the  number.  One  of  the  speakers  of  the  occa- 
sion was  a  man  who  had  made  the  overland  journey 
across  the  plains  with  ox  teams  in  1843  —  Senator 
James  W.  Nesmith,  of  Oregon. 

The  year  1883  is  a  turning  point  in  the  railroad  his- 
tory of  the  Pacific  Northwest.  Within  the  next  few 
years,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Oregon  and  California 
Railway  surmounted  the  difficulties  of  the  Siskiyou, 
connecting  thus  with  California  and  by  the  Central 
Pacific  with  the  East ;  and  the  Columbia  River  line  was 
extended  eastward  through  Oregon,  Idaho,  and  a  por- 
tion of  Wyoming  (the  old  Oregon  Trail)  to  connect 
with  the  Central  Pacific  directly. 

A  new  railway  era  opens  in  1883.  In  1893 
the  Great  Northern  Railway  was  completed  to  Puget 
Sound,  making  the  third  transcontinental  line  to 
be  built.  It  marks  the  entrance  into  the  transporta- 
tion life  of  the  Northwest  of  Mr.  James  J.  Hill,  as  the 
California  road  and  the  Northern  Pacific  marked  the 
entrance  of  Mr.  Villard.  Mr.  Hill's  work  during  the 
succeeding  years  produced  many  changes  in  the  rail- 
road map  of  the  region,  particularly  in  the  states  of 
Montana,  Idaho,  and  Washington.  The  most  notable 
recent  achievement,  and  that  which  marks  his  entrance 
into  Oregon,  was  the  completion  in  1908  of  a  great 
water  level  railway  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Columbia. 
This  road  connects  at  Pasco,  Washington,  with  the 
main  line  of  the  Northern  Pacific  of  which  the  Hill  in- 
terests secured  control,  and  from  Vancouver,  Wash- 
ington, it  is  carried  over  the  Columbia  and  the  Willa- 


244       ^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

mette  to  Portland,  Oregon.  With  its  connections  the 
line  is  known  as  the  "  S.,  P.  &  S.,"  or  Spokane,  Port- 
land and  Seattle  Railroad.  Among  the  connections  of 
this  system  in  Oregon  are  the  line  to  Astoria  and  Sea- 
side, the  Oregon  Electric  extending  now  from  Port- 
land south  to  Eugene,  and  the  Oregon  Trunk  Railroad 
built  along  the  Des  Chutes  river  to  Bend.  In  Wash- 
ington, Idaho  and  Montana  the  feeders  of  the  Hill 
system  are  much  more  numerous.  These  states  also 
enjoy  the  benefits  of  the  Milwaukee  system,  which  was 
built  across  the  Rockies  in  1908  and  has  its  western 
terminus  at  Tacoma,  Washington. 

On  the  whole,  railway  building,  and  in  consequence 
almost  every  line  of  economic  development,  for  some 
years  was  more  rapid  north  of  the  Columbia  than  in 
Oregon,  whose  lines,  gathered  together  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  late  E.  H.  Harriman,  were  commonly  spoken 
of  as  the  Harriman,  or  the  Southern  Pacific,  interests 
as  opposed  to  the  Northern  Pacific  or  the  Hill  inter- 
ests. In  recent  years,  however,  the  Southern  Pacific 
has  shown  much  activity  in  the  transportation  develop- 
ment of  Oregon.  It  constructed  the  Des  Chutes  Rail- 
way in  competition  with  the  Hill  interests,  it  completed 
the  west  side  division  in  the  Willamette  Valley  from 
Corvallis  to  Eugene,  making  thus  far  a  second  line 
from  Portland  south,  took  over  the  privately  built  Cor- 
vallis and  Eastern,  and  built  extensions  south  into  the 
Eastern  Oregon  Plateau  from  Biggs,  Arlington,  and 
Willows  to  Shaniko,  Condon  and  Heppner  respectively. 
It  has  also  built  a  short  extension  from  Pendleton  to 


The  Age  of  Railway i  245 

Pilot  Rock,  a  longer  feeder  from  Baker  to  Prairie 
City  and  a  still  longer  one  southwestward  from  On- 
tario into  the  vast  undeveloped  regions  of  Malheur  and 
Harney  Counties.  But  probably  the  Southern  Pacific's 
most  significant  achievement  is  the  recently  (1916) 
completed  line  from  Eugene  to  Coos  Bay,  which  gives 
the  interior  access  to  a  southern  seaport  and  brings 
into  relations  with  the  rest  of  Oregon  an  isolated  but 
exceedingly  fruitful  section  of  the  state.  Besides,  it 
prophesies  the  ultimate  completion  of  a  coast  line  to 
California. 

The  eastern  portion  of  Oregon  is  not  yet  adequately 
supplied  with  railway  lines  for  the  primary  purposes 
of  agricultural  development,  though  plans  are  on  foot 
whereby  the  various  existing  partial  systems  may  be 
connected  together  into  a  system  capable  of  serving  this 
vast  area,  so  long  given  over  to  the  grazing  of  cattle 
and  sheep  under  open  range  conditions. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE   PROGRESS   OF   AGRICULTURE 

The  states  of  the  Pacific  Northwest  are  usually  de- 
scribed as  primarily  agricultural.  The  first  settle- 
ments were  made  by  farmer  folk  from  the  Mississippi 
Valley  states,  and  farming  has  always  been  a  leading 
industry  throughout  the  region.  In  1910  the  three 
states  of  Oregon,  Washington,  and  Idaho  had  a  com- 
bined population  of  2,140,349,  Of  this  total,  1,157,- 
861  are  classed  in  the  census  report  as  rural,  which 
means  that  they  lived  either  in  the  open  country  or  in 
towns  and  villages  having  not  to  exceed  2,500  people. 
The  number  of  farms  in  the  three  states  was  132,501. 
If  we  allow  five  persons  to  the  farm,  which  is  probably 
a  low  minimum,  the  actual  farm  population  would  ag- 
gregate 662,505,  or  approximately  thirty-one  per  cent 
of  the  whole.  The  total  wealth  of  the  three  states 
was  reckoned  at  $5,771,020,243,  and  the  value  of  all 
farm  property  was  $1,471,104,378,  somewhat  over 
twenty-five  per  cent. 

At  the  date  of  the  first  census  which  took  account  of 
Oregon,  the  census  of  1850,  the  number  of  farms  was 
given  as  1,164,  ^^^  the  average  value  of  a  farm  with 
buildings  and  all  personal  property  attached  to  the 

246 


The  Progress  of  Agriculture  247 

farm  was  $4,217.     The  total  value  of  all  farm  prop- 
erty was  $4,908,588. 

The  story  of  the  expansion  of  agriculture  in  the 
Pacific  Northwest  during  the  sixty  years  from  1850  to 
1910  is  not  a  simple  account  of  the  way  the  original 
number  of  farms  was  multiplied  again  and  again,  until 
the  present  total  was  reached.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a 
complex,  a  picturesque,  and  at  certain  points  a  dramatic 
story  of  the  colonization  and  development  of  an  im- 
perial area,  diversified  in  its  physical  characteristics, 
in  climate,  and  in  natural  productions. 

Beginning  of  agriculture.  The  earliest  cultivators 
of  the  soil,  after  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  were 
the  retired  French  Canadian  servants  of  the  company 
who  squatted  on  the  rich  second  bench  land  along  the 
Willamette  some  fifty  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  A  district  centring  upon  St.  Paul,  the  site  of 
the  old  Catholic  Mission,  is  still  known  as  French 
Prairie  from  the  early  French  settlers.^ 

The  Methodist  Mission,  and  the  colony  which  grew 
up  about  it,  occupied  land  further  to  the  south,  but  con- 
tiguous to  French  Prairie. 

The  companies  of  immigrants  who  came  in  annually, 
beginning  in  1842,  took  up  rapidly  all  the  choicest  lands 
to  be  found  in  the  lower  or  northern  parts  of  the  Willa- 
mette Valley  and  pushed  steadily  southward  until  by 
the  time  of  the  California  gold  rush,  1848,  their  re- 
moter settlements  were  nearly  one  hundred  fifty  miles 

^  The  earliest  French  farmer  was  Etienne  Lucicr,  who  is  said 
to  have  begun  raising  wheat  on  French  Prairie  in  1829. 


248       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest  > 

from  Vancouver,  which  still  continued  to  be  their  mar- 
ket reached  by  boat  on  the  Willamette. 

The  California  gold  rush,  as  we  have  seen,  lured 
some  of  the  Oregon  pioneers  to  the  valleys  of  the 
Umpqua  and  Rogue  rivers  where  they  settled  as  farm- 
ers and  cattle  raisers,  to  supply  the  California  trade, 
and  soon  the  gold  seekers  crossed  from  the  south  the 
Siskiyou  Mountains  into  Oregon,  which  resulted  in 
uniting  the  two  communities  though  at  some  points  the 
connecting  band  of  settlement  was  still  extremely 
slight. 

The  California  market  essential.  The  California 
gold  rush  seems  the  almost  providential  means  of 
saving  the  Oregon  colony  (and  the  California  colony, 
too)  from  stagnation  and  perhaps  ultimate  failure. 
In  the  entire  historv  of  the  westward  migration  of  the 
American  people  there  is  no  example  of  an  agricultural 
settlement  which  really  flourished  before  adequate 
market  facilities  were  created  for  it;  and  until  Cali- 
fornia filled  up,  magically,  with  gold  seekers  the  market 
of  the  Oregon  farmers  was  entirely  too  limited  and  too 
uncertain. 

Even  after  the  gold  rush  had  set  in  the  market  for 
wheat,  flour,  meats,  fruits  and  vegetables,  all  of  which 
could  be  supplied  by  Oregon  and  ^^'ashington  farmers, 
was  far  from  being  unlimited,  especially  since  Califor- 
nia agriculture  gradually  supplied  most  of  the  local 
demand  for  food  stuffs.  The  opening  of  the  mines 
throughout  the  Inland  Empire  brought  a  new  and 
much  needed  stimulus.     But,  once  more,  local  agricul- 


The  Progress  of  Agriculture  249 

ture  in  the  vicinity  of  the  various  mining  centres  soon 
came  to  be  the  chief  reliance  for  miners'  suppHes. 
Later  the  development  of  Alaska  as  a  new  El  Dorado 
brought  much  benefit  to  Northwestern  agriculture ;  the 
Hawaiian  Islands'  trade  increased,  and  a  partial  mar- 
ket for  food  stuffs  was  opened  in  the  Asiatic  countries. 

Yet,  all  in  all,  the  Pacific  Northwest  has  suffered  in 
its  agricultural  development  from  the  stupendous  fact 
that  nature  had  made  the  region  tributary  to  the  Pacific 
rather  than  to  the  Atlantic.  The  markets  of  the  world 
for  the  products  of  our  farms  and  ranches  are  in 
Europe,  and  access  to  the  European  markets  was  seri- 
ously hampered  by  transcontinental  freight  charges  on 
the  one  hand  and  on  the  other  by  the  length  and  diffi- 
culty of  ocean  trade  routes.  Not  until  the  opening  of 
the  Panama  Canal  can  this  region  be  said  to  have  en- 
tered fully  into  the  common  benefits  of  the  world  mar- 
ket for  American  farm  products.  Now  the  handicap 
is  removed  and  the  whole  Pacific  slope  shares  the 
European  markets  with  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  the 
Atlantic  sea-board. 

Economic  reasons  for  slow  growth.  The  ab- 
sence of  adequate  market  facilities  during  the 
greater  part  of  our  history  is  one  of  the  main  reasons 
for  the  comparatively  slow  growth  of  population  in 
these  states.  While  the  progress  shown  by  the  popu- 
lation totals,  given  above,  is  certainly  considerable, 
still  the  growth  in  other  groups  of  western  states  has 
been  very  much  more  rapid  than  in  ours.  For  ex- 
ample, Ohio,   Indiana,  and  Illinois,  were  settled  up 


250      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

largely  before  the  era  of  railways  and  in  part  before 
the  steamboat  came  into  use.  Yet  these  three  states 
multiplied  their  population  in  fifty-years  (1790-1840) 
from  45,000  to  2,680,000.  West  of  the  Mississippi 
are  the  four  neighbour  states,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  Ne- 
braska and  Kansas.  Their  rich  prairie  lands  were  as 
yet  almost  unbroken  when  the  wagon  trains  bound  for 
Oregon  began  wearing  deep  trails  westward  across 
their  surface.  Yet,  between  the  years  1840  and  1880 
these  four  states  gained  a  combined  population  of 
3,793,000. 

To  sum  the  matter  up,  population  in  the  states  north 
of  the  Ohio  advanced  during  the  first  half  century  of 
settlement  about  three  times  as  fast  as  in  the  Pacific 
Northwest,  while  in  the  states  west  of  the  Mississippi 
the  rate  was  five  times  as  rapid. 

Inadequate  markets,  however,  were  only  one  cause 
of  the  delay  in  peopling  this  favoured  region.  The 
other  main  cause  was  the  existence  of  vast  stretches  of 
rich  unappropriated  land  east  of  the  Rockies,  which 
would  have  to  be  taken  up  for  the  most  part  before  a 
general  movement  of  homeseeking  farmers  into  the 
Northwest  could  be  realized.  For  the  "  rush  "  of  set- 
tlement is  always  into  the  next  available  contiguous 
area.  Other  conditions  being  equal,  emigrants  cling 
as  closely  to  the  old  home  as  they  can.  This  is  a  prin- 
ciple which  western  promoters  who  were  ignorant  of 
the  history  of  settlement  in  the  United  States  some- 
times forgot,  to  their  sorrow. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  in  recent  years,  with 


The  Progress  of  Agriculture  251 

the  Panama  Canal  inviting  to  the  markets  of  the  world, 
with  improved  and  improving  railway  facilities,  and 
with  no  further  competition  with  free  lands  nearer  the 
centre  of  population  the  chief  handicaps  to  agricul- 
tural development  have  been  removed  and  a  period  of 
extraordinary  progress  should  be  setting  in. 

Recent  progress  more  rapid.  That  this  is  true  is 
apparently  demonstrated  by  the  census  figures  show- 
ing the  increase  in  number  of  farms  and  in  farm 
values  between  the  years  1900  and  1901.-^  In  1900 
Oregon  had  35,837  farms  averaging  281  acres  in 
extent.  These  farms,  with  the  buildings,  machinery 
and  domestic  animals  pertaining  to  them,  are  assigned 
an  average  value  of  $4,821  or  a  total  farm  wealth  for 
the  state  of  $172,761,287.  Ten  years  later  there  are 
45,502  farms,  an  increase  of  nearly  10,000;  the  aver- 
age acreage  is  256.8,  a  reduction  of  24.2  acres.  But 
the  value  of  the  average  farm,  fully  equipped  as  before, 
has  risen  from  $4,821  to  $11,600,  and  the  value  of  all 
farm  property  in  the  state  has  grown  to  the  remark- 
able total  of  $528,243,782. 

Even  more  striking  is  the  case  of  Washington, 
where  the  number  of  farms  increased  from  33,202  in 
1900  to  56,192  in  1 910,  and  their  total  value  increased 
from  $144,040,547  to  $637,543,411.  This  represents 
an  increase  in  the  value  of  the  average  farm  in  Wash- 
ington from  $4,338  to  $11,346  in  ten  years. 

Idaho  had  17,471  farms  in  1900,  and  by  the  year 

lAn  analysis  of  those  figures,  and  of  the  apparent  prosperity 
of  Agriculture,  will  be  given  at  a  later  point  in  this  chapter. 


252       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

1910  she  had  30,803.  All  farm  property  in  1900  was 
valued  at  $67,271,202  and  in  1910  at  $305.327»i85. 
The  average  farm  in  that  state  was  valued  in  1900  at 
$3,850,  in  1910  at  $9,911. 

Here  we  have,  therefore,  for  the  whole  region  an 
increase  in  ten  years  of  46,187  farms,  and  an  increase 
of  $1,087,031,342  in  agricultural  wealth.  The  new 
farms  created  during  the  decade  would  represent  an 
addition  to  the  farm  population,  on  the  basis  of  five  to 
the  farm,  of  about  231,000.  The  total  increase  of 
population  in  the  three  states  during  the  decade  was 
1,046,938,^  from  which  it  appears  that  about  twenty- 
two  per  cent  of  the  new  population  have  found  homes 
on  farms. 

Comparing  the  last  census  period  with  the  decade 
1880  to  1890,  the  first  great  era  of  railway  construc- 
tion during  which  population  growth  was  exceptionally 
rapid,  we  obtain  some  interesting  results.  During  that 
era  the  number  of  farms  in  Oregon  increased  from 
16,217  to  25,530,  or  a  gain  of  9,323;  in  Washington, 
from  6,529  to  18,056,  or  11,527;  and  in  Idaho,  from 
1,885  to  6,603  or  4,718.  This  makes  a  combined  gain 
of  25,568  farms,  providing  homes  for  127,840  per- 
sons. Thus  it  appears  that  our  growth  during  the  last 
census  period  has  exceeded  that  of  1880  to  1890  by  ap- 
proximately 20,600  farms  representing  a  population  of 
103,000.  When  we  consider  that  the  Panama  Canal 
was  not  opened  to  traf^c  until  nearly  five  years  after 
the  decade  closed  and  that  its  benefits  were  therefore 

1  Washington  623,887,  Oregon  259,229,  Idaho  163,822. 


The  Progress  of  Agriculture  253 

prospective  rather  than  actual,  the  impression  deepens 
that  the  agricultural  prosperity  of  the  Northwest  has 
only  well  begun  and  that  the  next  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  are  almost  sure  to  witness  great  if  not  revolu- 
tionary changes. 

The  Willamette  Valley  first  to  develop.  Prior 
to  1880,  progress  had  been  rapid  nowhere  except, 
for  a  few  years,  in  the  Willamette  Valley.  The 
chief  stimuli  there  in  the  decade  1850  to  i860  were  the 
California  market  for  farm  produce,  and  the  Donation 
Land  Law.  This  law  permitted  settlers  who  were 
married  to  take  up  640  acres  of  land,  one-half  of  which 
was  to  belong  to  the  husband,  the  other  half  to  the  wife. 
The  law  was  passed  by  Congress  in  September,  1850, 
and  it  expired  by  limitation  in  1855.  Under  its  terms 
all  of  the  most  valuable  farm  lands  in  the  \\' illamette 
Valley  were  taken  up,  and  since  the  law  applied  equally 
to  Washington  Territory  numerous  claims  were  filed 
there,  too.  The  result  is  seen,  partly,  in  the  fact  that 
Oregon  ^  farm  holdings  increased  during  the  decade 
from  1,164  to  5>8o6,  or  4,642  farms,  while  in  the  next 
decade  the  increase  was  less  than  1800  farms.^ 

Between  1870  and  1880  the  growth  is  more  marked. 
This  period  was  influenced  by  the  gold  rush  to  the  In- 
land Empire  which  began  in  the  6o's  and  was  signalized 
by  the  opening  of  new  farming  areas  in  Eastern  Ore- 
gon.    Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  Grande 

1  Including  Washington. 

2  In  Oregon  alone.  No  data  for  Washington  Territory  until 
1870. 


254      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Ronde  Valley,  partly  settled  between  the  years  1862 
and  1870,  as  was  also  the  Powder  River  Valley  and 
the  Umatilla.  All  of  these  sections  increased  steadily 
in  the  next  decade. 

The  Inland  Empire;  ranching.  Moreover,  the 
charms  and  the  profits  of  stock-ranching  on  a  large 
scale  were  causing  a  considerable  emigration  from 
the  Willamette  Valley  to  Central  Oregon,  espe- 
cially Crook  and  Wasco  Counties,  while  men  from 
Southern  Oregon  crossed  over  to  Klamath  County,  and 
to  Harney  County.  In  this  vast  plateau  region,  with 
limitless  range  all  about,  the  stockman  located  his  claim 
in  some  sheltered  valley  or  cove,  where  the  union  of 
good  soil  and  a  supply  of  water  made  possible  the 
growing  of  grain,  hay  and  vegetables.  He  could  thus 
support  his  home,  while  the  herds  or  flocks  multiplied 
until,  in  many  cases,  they  numbered  scores  of  thousands 
of  animals  and  made  their  owners  wealthy. 

Some  notion  of  the  extent  of  the  range  business  can 
be  gathered  from  the  statistics  of  the  increase  in  live 
stock  values  which  represent  the  range  interest  to- 
gether with  the  ordinary  farm  interest.  In  Oregon 
the  number  of  farms  increased  between  1870  and  1880 
from  7,587  to  16,217  or  8,630,  a  gain  of  113.7  per 
cent.  But  the  value  of  livestock  on  farms  and  ranges 
increased  in  the  same  period  from  $6,828,675  to  $17,- 
1 10,392  or  150.6  per  cent.  In  Washington  the  number 
of  farms  gained  108.8  per  cent,  while  the  value  of  live- 
stock increased  by  184  per  cent.     In  Idaho  the  number 


The  Progress  of  Agriculture  255 

of  farms  shows  an  increase  of  355.3  per  cent  and  the 
value  of  Hvestock  866.2  per  cent. 

The  twenty  years  from  1870  to  1890,  or  thereabouts, 
was  the  heyday  of  open  range  stock-raising  in  the 
Pacific  Northwest.  During  that  time  the  stockman 
was  free  to  increase  his  herds  to  any  practicable  ex- 
tent, secure  in  the  knowledge  that  his  pasturage  was 
unstinted  and  that  few  would  interfere  with  his  use  of 
the  public  lands  surrounding  his  homestead.  After- 
wards restrictions  began  to  be  felt,  until  by  gradual 
stages  the  old  type  of  ranching  was  forced  to  give 
place  to  the  system  of  enclosed  ranges.^ 

Changes  in  the  ranching  business;  the  great 
cattle  companies.  While  the  advance  in  live-stock 
w^ealth  has  continued  down  to  19 10  and  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  increase  is  still  due  to  the  ranges  of  the 
Inland  Empire,  the  conditions  of  stockraising  have 
changed  enormously.  The  picturesque  "  cowboy  "  of 
a  quarter  century  ago  is  rarely  met  with  today  on  the 
sage  plains,  and  the  historic  "  round-up  "  is  now  en- 
acted as  a  pageant  before  throngs  of  hilarious  spec- 
tators. 

When  the  stockman  became  convinced  of  the  neces- 
sity of  retiring  to  his  own  enclosed  pasture,  he  usually 
tried  to  provide  himself  amply  with  lands  for  his  future 
operations.  Many  failed  in  the  endeavour  and  went 
out  of  the  stock  business.     A  few,  by  means  not  al- 

1  Except  in  certain  districts,  and  in  connection  with  the  grazing 
of  the  forest  reserves. 


256       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

ways  honourable,  secured  titles  to  enormous  tracts 
which  are  now  generally  in  the  hands  of  corporations. 
In  one  Oregon  county  which  contains  patented  lands 
amounting  to  1,127,180  acres,  seven  cattle  companies 
hold  a  combined  acreage  of  512,955  or  almost  one-half 
of  the  whole.  One  of  these  companies  is  believed  to 
own  229,000  acres  in  that  county,  and  nearly  as  much 
more  in  each  of  two  other  Oregon  counties.  In  vari- 
ous Pacific  and  Rocky  Mountain  states  the  company 
owns  an  empire  aggregating  22,000  sections  or  1,408,- 
000  acres. 

Much  of  the  territory  now  held  by  the  cattle  com- 
panies was  originally  filched  from  the  National  Gov- 
ernment by  the  well-known  device  of  the  "  dummy  " 
entryman;  some  of  it  was  once  embraced  in  a  wagon 
road  grant  unwisely  made  by  Congress,  which  was  pur- 
chased from  the  grantees;  some  of  it  was  land  falsely, 
or  at  least  doubtfully,  described  as  swamp  land  and  as 
such  sold  at  the  rate  of  one  dollar  per  acre;  and  some 
was  state  school  land  the  engrossing  of  which  was  per- 
mitted by  the  laxness  of  the  state  in  enforcing  the  laws 
intended  to  restrict  the  sale  to  actual  settlers.^  Some 
of  it,  probably,  was  secured  by  the  use  of  land  scrip. 
And  there  are  many  cases,  it  is  charged,  in  which  home- 
steaders were  terrorised  by  hired  thugs  into  selling 
their  rights  to  others,  for  the  benefit  of  the  cattle  com- 
panies. 

The  companies  an  obstacle  to  progress  in  grain- 

1  For  the  facts  concerning  the  titles  to  the  big  ranches  in  Har- 
ney County,  Oregon,  the  writer  is  indebted  to  Mr.  H.  K.  Shirk, 


The  Progress  of  Agriculture  257 

growing.  In  whatever  manner  the  lands  may  have 
been  secured,  the  existence  of  these  big  ranches  is  one 
of  the  present  day  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  grain 
farming,  the  advance  of  which  was  the  chief  cause  of 
the  change  from  open  ranging  to  the  new  method  of 
stock  raising. 

The  profits  in  wheat  growing  on  the  volcanic  soils  of 
Washington,  Idaho  and  Oregon  are  so  generous,  under 
a  regime  of  cheap  lands,  that  every  extension  of  rail- 
way facilities  has  promptly  brought  fresh  areas  under 
the  plough.  Lands  which  w'ere  once  considered  of  no 
value  except  for  their  bunch  grass  pasturage  are  found 
to  produce  with  proper  "  dry  land  "  methods  of  cultiva- 
tion, bountiful  crops  of  hard  wheat.  To  be  sure,  a 
considerable  area  in  Washington  and  a  much  larger 
area  in  Oregon  lies  at  an  elevation  too  great  for  ma- 
turing the  common  varieties  of  cereals.  Yet,  even 
these  lands  must  not  lightly  be  condemned  to  range 
uses  forever.  The  agricultural  colleges  and  stations 
are  sedulously  engaged  in  plant-breeding  experiments 
which  are  likely  to  solve  what  is  now  a  very  real  prob- 
lem. If  they  succeed,  as  in  time  they  doubtless  will, 
we  may  look  for  a  vast  increase  in  the  cultivated  area, 
east  of  the  Cascades,  within  a  reasonable  term  of  years. 
For  not  only  dry  farming  methods,  but  new  irrigation 
projects,  of  which  a  number  are  already  in  operation, 
will  steadily  encroach  upon  the  area  of  the  stock 
ranges  until  through  the  rise  of  land  values,  or  through 

of  Burns,  Oregon,  who  personally  examined  land  office  and  court 
records  bearing  upon  the  subject. 


258       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

the  adoption  by  the  states  of  a  forward-looking  policy 
of  getting  all  tillable  lands  into  the  hands  of  home-mak- 
ing cultivators,  the  grazing  industry  will  finally  be  com- 
pletely subordinated  to  farming  proper.  Practically, 
it  will  be  confined  to  the  very  rough  or  very  stony 
ground,  and  to  the  forest  reserves. 

In  the  year  1910  the  state  of  Washington  reported 
40,920,390  bushels  of  wheat  grown  on  13,865  farms. 
Oregon  reported  12,456,751  bushels  from  13,202 
farms;  Idaho  10,237,609  bushels  from  12,676  farms. 
The  acreage  of  wheat  in  Washington  had  been  multi- 
plied since  1879  by  26;  in  Oregon  by  less  than  21 ;  and 
in  Idaho  by  18.  In  19 15  Oregon's  estimated  produc- 
tion was  20,025,000  bushels;  Washington's  50,94,000 
bushels,  and  Idaho's  18,730,000  bushels.  The  wheat 
farms  are  growing  larger  every  year. 

Wheat  growing  in  the  Willamette  Valley.  In 
Oregon  the  expansion  of  the  wheat  area  east  of 
the  Cascades  was  offset  in  part  by  a  gradual  decrease  in 
the  acreage  and  the  yield  of  wheat  grown  in  the  Willa- 
mette Valley.  The  early  settlers  raised  wheat  with 
extraordinary  success.  For  many  years  the  valley  had 
a  national  repute  as  a  wheat  growing  region.  But  bad 
methods  of  cultivation,  an  almost  total  failure  to  sup- 
ply elements  of  fertility  removed  from  the  soil  by  suc- 
cessive crops  and  the  destructive  custom  of  permitting 
the  water  soaked  ground  to  be  trampled  by  livestock 
in  the  winter  finally  rendered  a  naturally  rich  soil  un- 
responsive. The  wheat  yield  dwindled  steadily  until 
the  margin  of  profit  on  its  cultivation  disappeared. 


The  Progress  of  Agriculture  259 

Agricultural  readjustment;  striving  for  a 
permanent  agriculture.  For  a  number  of  years,  the 
agriculture  of  the  Willamette  Valley,  and  other  sec- 
tions of  western  Oregon  and  western  Washington,  has 
been  striving  to  readjust  itself.  The  quest  has  been 
for  something  which  should  prove  a  satisfactory 
substitute  for  the  old  staple,  wheat.  But  no  other 
cereal  could  be  grown  successfully  where  wheat  had 
failed.  Besides,  the  soil  required  rejuvenation  and  for 
this  fertilization  and  improved  methods  of  culture 
were  imperatively  demanded.  The  remedy,  there- 
fore, was  not  a  new  crop,  but  a  new  agriculture. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  problem  has  been  finally 
solved,  but  it  has  come  to  be  generally  recognized, 
which  is  the  condition  of  its  solution.  Year  by  year 
the  nation-wide  movement  for  a  permanent  agriculture 
wins  new  adherents  and  new  missionaries  in  this  sec- 
tion. 

Dairying.  Perhaps  the  conditions  of  a  permanent 
agriculture  are  as  well  fulfilled  in  dairying  as  in  any 
other  system  of  farming.  Experience  has  shown  that 
under  such  a  system,  if  well  conducted,  the  fertility  of 
the  soil  is  built  up  year  by  year,  while  the  sure  if 
modest  profits  of  the  business  render  the  farmer  and 
his  family  independent.  The  climate,  soil  and  produc- 
tions of  western  Oregon  and  Washington  are  espe- 
cially favourable  to  the  success  of  the  industry. 
Dairying  therefore  is  being  promoted  with  a  vigour 
born  of  confidence. 

One  of  its  best  features,  our  farmers  are  told,  is  the 


26o       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

way  it  improves  the  farmer  himself.  Since  profits  are 
small  or  non-existent  to  the  shiftless  or  untaught  and 
relatively  large  for  the  careful,  scientific  dairyman,  the 
business  serves  as  a  school  of  agricultural  efficiency. 

The  benefits  of  dairying  appeal  also  to  the  cultivator 
of  irrigated  acres  in  all  parts  of  the  Inland  Empire. 
The  success  with  which  alfalfa  hay,  oats,  and  corn  can 
be  produced  for  stock  feed,  and  the  increased  value  of 
these  productions  when  turned  into  butter,  cheese  or 
milk  is  there  the  great  incentive. 

Census  figures  of  six  or  seven  years  ago  are  not  il- 
lustrative of  the  dairy  industry  as  it  is  in  the  Northwest 
today,  progress  since  19  lo  having  been  especially  rapid. 
Perhaps  a  better  indication  of  growth  in  the  entire  re- 
gion, would  be  the  statistics  of  the  Dairy  and  Food 
Commissioner  of  Oregon,  for  that  state,  covering  ap- 
proximately the  period  1900  to  19 16.  He  finds  that 
in  Oregon  the  number  of  creameries  has  increased  from 
50  to  105,  and  their  butter  product  from  1,680,000 
pounds  to  16,288,000  pounds.  Oregon  had  20  cheese 
factories  in  1901,  producing  119,500  pounds  of  cheese, 
and  74  in  1916,  producing  8,952,000  pounds.  In  1905 
there  were  three  condensaries,  manufacturing  con- 
densed milk,  but  there  is  no  record  of  the  product  until 
1914,  when  there  were  seven  factories  producing  19,- 
580,000  pounds.  In  1916  they  were  producing  27,- 
116,000  pounds.  The  entire  dairy  output  of  Oregon 
for  the  year  19 16  is  estimated  at  $20,000,000.  The 
figure  for  Washington  would  be  considerably  higher. 

General  farming.     General   farming,  which  com- 


The  Progress  of  Agriculture  261 

bines  the  dairy  with  pigs,  sheep,  poultry,  fruit,  and 
market  crop  production  is  probably  the  most  com- 
mon form  of  the  reconstructive  agriculture  in  the  old 
sections  of  the  Northwest.  The  use  of  legumes, — 
vetch,  the  clovers,  peas,  beans  and  alfalfa, —  is  aiding 
materially  toward  restoring  the  productive  powers  of 
the  cropped-out  soils.  Corn,  once  considered  out  of 
the  question  because  of  the  cool  summers,  is  being 
raised  successfully,  benefitting  the  soil  by  the  more 
adequate  culture  it  receives  and  contributing  notably 
to  the  success  of  dairying  and  pig-feeding.  Silos  are 
already  dotting  the  landscape  in  many  sections,  and  al- 
most invariably  they  are  being  filled  with  corn. 

A  substantial  gain  has  been  made  in  Northwestern 
agriculture  since  the  opening  of  the  era  of  general 
farming  as  opposed  to  grain  farming.  Two  main 
obstacles,  however,  have  impeded  the  progress  of  re- 
form. These  are,  first,  that  the  relatively  high  price 
of  farm  lands  delays  the  process  of  subdividing  the 
large  farms  of  pioneer  times  into  holdings  suited  to  a 
more  intensive  system  of  farming;  second,  that  the 
extraordinary  variety  of  soils  and  situations  makes  the 
cultivation  of  every  quarter  section  of  land  in  Western 
Oregon  or  Washington  in  some  sort  a  distinctive  prob- 
lem to  be  solved  only  through  special  study  and  experi- 
mentation. 

Tradition  and  custom  are  here  less  safe  as  guides  to 
the  farmer  than  they  are  in  the  Middle  Western  states. 
And  since  most  men  rely  on  tradition  and  custom  to  a 
large  extent,  the  percentage  of   failures  is  relatively 


262       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

high.  On  the  other  hand,  while  they  make  progress 
slower,  it  is  probable  that  in  the  end  the  conditions 
mentioned  will  develop  here  a  race  of  trained,  thought- 
ful, independent  men  comparable  to  the  old  farming 
class  of  the  New  England  states. 

Farm  land  values;  the  census  figures.  The 
question  of  farm  land  values  cannot  be  disposed 
of  in  so  optimistic  a  manner.  It  constitutes  a  very- 
serious  problem  affecting  the  entire  social  structure  in 
these  states,  as  well  as  the  progress  of  agriculture.  It 
was  pointed  out  above  that  the  total  combined  value  of 
all  farm  property  in  Oregon,  Washington  and  Idaho  in 
1910  was  $1,471,104,378,  or  about  25  per  cent  of  the 
total  of  all  forms  of  wealth.  In  1900  the  value  of  all 
farm  property  stood,  for  the  three  states,  at  $384,- 
083,036.  The  advance,  accordingly,  amounted  to 
$1,087,031,342,  or  about  300  per  cent.  But  of  this 
gain,  $982,345,184  is  assigned  to  land  and  buildings, 
or  farm  real  estate  property.  According  to  the  census 
report,  farm  lands  alone,  as  distinct  from  buildings,  in- 
creased in  value  during  the  decade  217.7  per  cent  in 
Oregon,  278.3  in  Washington,  and  276.1  in  Idaho. 
This  rise  occurred  in  face  of  the  fact  that  the  percent- 
age of  farm  land  which  was  improved  actually  de- 
creased in  both  Oregon  and  Washington,  owing  to  the 
vastness  of  the  new  tracts  taken  up.  Thus  it  becomes 
clear  that  the  noteworthy  advance  in  farm  land  values, 
during  the  last  census  period,  represents  a  gain  prin- 
cipally in  the  social  value  of  land  —  the  unearned  in- 
crement —  which,  properly  speaking  is  not  an  economic 


The  Progress  of  Agriculture  263 

gain,  so  far  as  the  farmer  is  concerned.  Of  course  it 
is  a  fruitful  source  of  gain  to  the  speculative  land 
buyer  and  especially  to  the  dealer  in  farm  lands. 

Causes  of  social  value.  The  primary  cause  of  the 
rise  in  the  social  value  of  lands  here,  as  elsewhere  in 
the  United  States,  is  the  disappearance  of  the  free 
lands.  Hitherto  these  regulated  the  value  of  the  farm 
lands,  permitting  only  such  advance  as  was  justified 
usually  by  the  cost  of  improvements  plus  the  original 
expense  of  securing  title.  Thus,  in  the  case  of  Ore- 
gon, the  value  of  farm  lands  and  buildings  averaged 
$6.58  per  acre  in  1850,  when  30.7  per  cent  of  farm 
land  was  improved;  $13.50  in  1880  with  52.2  per 
cent  improved;  $16.75  '^^  1890  with  50.9  per  cent  im- 
proved; and  $13.14  in  900  with  3.3  per  cent  improved. 
But,  in  1910,  with  only  36.6  per  cent  of  the  lands  im- 
proved, the  value  per  acre  had  gone  up  to  $38.98.^ 

This  movement  of  values,  since  1850,  corresponds 
closely  to  the  movement  of  farm  values  in  the  United 
States  as  a  whole.  Until  1900  the  influence  of  free 
lands  effectually  prevented  the  general  rise  in  farm 
land  values.  The  disappearance  of  free  lands  during 
the  two  decades  1890  to  1910  removed  the  natural  reg- 
ulator of  values  with  the  result  that  in  ten  years  time 
they  were  more  than  doubled.  In  1900  the  average  for 
land  and  buildings  was  $19.3  per  acre,  while  in  1910 
it  was  $39.5. 

Speculation  in  farm  lands.  A  secondary  cause 
of    social    values    in    the    Northwest    has    been    an 

1  In  Washington  it  was  $48.84,  and  Idaho  $46.38. 


264      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

excess  of  speculation  in  farm  lands.  Two  closely  re- 
lated facts,  orcharding  and  irrigation,  have  served 
as  the  dynamite  for  breaking  up  all  the  old  con- 
ceptions of  farm  land  values.  Several  favoured  locali- 
ties, like  Hood  River  Valley,  Yakima  Valley,  the 
Payette  region  and  Rogue  River,  demonstrated  the  pos- 
sibility of  turning  ordinary  farm  lands,  worth  from 
$10  to  $25  per  acre,  into  fruit  orchards  worth  from 
$250  to  $1,500  per  acre.  Since  there  seemed  no  con- 
vincing reason  why  other  areas  should  be  deemed  in- 
capable of  growing  fruit  "  just  as  good  "  as  that  of  the 
places  named  (and  others  equally  successful),  and  since 
the  market  for  certain  kinds  of  fruit  appeared  to  be 
almost  unlimited,  men  strove  madly  to  multiply  orchard 
areas. 

There  was  a  rage  for  planting  and  especially  for 
planning  new  orchards  in  all  sorts  of  soils  and  every 
conceivable  situation.  It  became  a  common  practice 
for  realty  companies  to  buy  up  a  few  cheap  farms, 
located  as  chance  might  dictate,  and  to  throw  them  into 
a  single  tract.  To  this  they  would  then  apply  some 
poetic  or  at  least  promising  name  and  begin  to  sell  it  off 
in  tracts  of  from  five  to  forty  acres.  By  means  of 
lavish  expenditure  for  advertising,  all  of  which  would 
be  repaid  with  usury  by  the  unwary  purchasers,  con- 
scienceless promoters  often  reaped  a  rich  harvest. 
Their  victims  in  too  many  instances  have  reaped  sor- 
row only. 

Cases  of  this  kind  poisoned  the  minds  of  the  farm- 
ers, who  readily  seized  the  chance  of  selling  their  farms 


One  of  the  fruit-growing  regions  of  tiie  Nortlnvest.    The  Hood 
River  Valley 


The  Progress   of  Agriculture  265 

for  orchard  purposes  at  high  values,  and  when  one  farm 
was  thus  sold  all  others  in  the  neighbourhood  instantly 
came  into  the  market,  always  at  fictitious  values. 
Legitimate  farming  suffered  as  district  after  district, 
county  after  county,  engaged  in  the  race  for  wealth 
easily  gotten  through  the  speculative  disposal  of  farm 
lands,  to  easterners  or  others  in  the  grip  of  the  fruit- 
growing mania. 

Irrigation,  wherever  it  came,  worked  even  a  greater 
revolution  in  the  value  of  lands  affected,  than  did 
fruit  growing.  Desert  lands  are  low-priced.  Irri- 
gated lands  are  high-priced.  Schemes  of  irrigation  by 
private  companies,  under  state  auspices,  and  under  na- 
tional auspices  were  actively  promoted  in  some  areas, 
anticipated  in  others,  and  hoped  for  wherever  water 
and  sage  plain  were  found  in  relations  which  might 
render  irrigation  possible.  The  result  has  been  specu- 
lation in  so-called  "  irrigable  "  lands  tending  to  inflate 
values  unduly. 

Increase  in  number  of  small  farms.  From  all 
causes,  some  legitimate  and  some  otherwise,  the  num- 
ber of  small  farms,  ranging  from  less  than  twenty 
acres  to  one  hundred  acres,  was  increased  in  these 
three  states  during  the  last  census  period  from  about 
28,000  to  59,000 ;  and  it  is  significant  that  the  largest 
relative  increase  was  in  the  number  of  very  small 
farms, —  those  under  twenty  acres.  In  farms  of  mod- 
erate size,  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  seventy- 
five  acres,  and  over  one  hundred  seventy-five  but  under 
five  hundred,  the  increase  was  slight. 


266       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Also  of  very  large  farms.  The  very  large  farms, 
especially  those  averaging  more  than  i,ooo  acres,  were 
growing  more  numerous,  both  actually  and  relatively 
to  the  whole  number  of  farms.  This  process,  which 
apparently  still  continues,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  wheat 
raising  by  capitalistic  methods  is  extremely  profitable, 
and  the  larger  the  area  cultivated,  under  a  single  man- 
agement the  larger  the  profits. 

Effect  of  land  prices  on  immigration.  A  general 
inflation  of  land  values  influences  the  rate  of  immi- 
gration of  desirable  citizens  from  other  states  into 
this  region  and  defers  still  further  the  full  devel- 
opment of  Northwestern  resources.  This  fact  is  com- 
ing to  be  recognized  as  well  as  the  other  fundamental 
facts  (a)  that  the  high  price  of  farm  lands  is  respon- 
sible in  large  measure  for  the  drift  to  the  towns  which, 
considering  the  comparative  newness  of  the  region,  is 
seriously  disquieting  to  all  thoughtful  men,  and  (b) 
that  it  contributes  to  the  anxieties  and  the  unrest  of 
the  industrial  classes  who  see  in  it  the  prospect  of  their 
permanent  exclusion  from  the  ranks  of  landowners. 
Hence,  it  is  not  strange  that  remedies  should  be  sought 
through  extreme  socialistic  measures  for  land  holding 
reform  like  the  Single  Tax.  Such  a  measure  was  de- 
feated by  the  Oregon  electorate  at  the  general  election 
in  November,  1916,  the  vote  standing  43,390  "Yes" 
and  154,908  "  No." 

Suggested  remedies.  Probably  no  similar  meas- 
ure can  pass  in  any  of  these  states  until  the  landless 
industrial   class   shall   be   distinctly   in   the   majority. 


The  Progress  of  Agriculture  267 

Meanwhile,  earnest  men  are  seeking  remedies  which 
may,  if  possible,  conserve  the  lands  for  the  use  of 
actual  homemakers,  in  unit  areas  suited  to  the  needs 
of  a  family  under  the  varying  economies  of  grazing, 
wheat  growing,  general  farming,  irrigation  farming, 
orcharding,  etc.  It  should  be  possible,  in  view  of  the 
experience  of  other  countries,  to  induce  monopolistic 
concerns  to  sell  their  surplus  land,  at  reasonable  and 
yet  profitable  rates,  to  those  who  actually  need  them 
for  the  support  of  homes.  If  a  plan  of  procedure  could 
be  found  which  would  release  for  agricultural  purposes 
such  parts  of  the  great  cattle  ranches  as  could  be 
profitably  cultivated  either  with  irrigation  or  by  dry 
farming  methods,  and  which  would  at  least  prevent  the 
bonanza  wheat  farms  from  growing  bigger  than  a  given 
maximum  acreage,  a  beginning  toward  reform  would 
be  made.  In  order  to  be  thoroughgoing  it  must  fix  the 
acreage  of  the  normal  holding  for  each  type  of  farm. 
The  normal  holding  would  have  to  be  made  general 
by  the  exercise  of  the  law  making  and  taxing  powers 
of  the  state  and  in  extreme  cases  through  the  use  of 
the  state's  reserved  power  of  eminent  domain.  Of 
course,  the  "  normal  farm  "  would  require  to  be  re- 
established from  time  to  time  as  population  became 
denser  and  cultivation  more  intensive. 

In  order  to  limit  speculation  in  farm  lands,  it  has 
been  suggested  that  a  state  land  "  exchange "  be 
created  for  the  purpose  of  listing,  at  a  central  office, 
all  farm  lands  which  are  for  sale  or  exchange,  and  for 
classifying  such  lands  according  to  definite  and  logical 


268       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

principles,  with  reference  to  their  real  character.  By 
this  means  it  is  believed  the  inflation  due  to  specula- 
tion, to  over-wrought  description,  and  to  false  or  mis- 
leading classification,  would  be  eliminated.  The  state 
office  could  exert  a  wholesome  restraint  in  the  interest 
of  fairness  to  both  buyer  and  seller. 

Agricultural  education.  As  respects  the  problem 
of  agriculture,  education  is  performing  two  main  func- 
tions. On  the  one  hand  it  aims  to  assist  the  adult 
generation  of  farmers  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  new 
conditions  imposed  by  the  new  agriculture.  On  the 
other,  it  strives  to  train  the  next  generation  in  such 
a  manner  that  they  may  be  able  to  meet  similar  prob- 
lems even  if  these  should  appear  in  much  more  acute 
forms.  The  agricultural  colleges  of  the  Northwest 
are  keenly  alive  to  their  responsibilities,  and  they  em- 
ploy a  vast  system  of  extension  services  in  the  hope 
of  aiding  the  practising  farmer.  They  are  likewise 
co-operating  with  the  public  school  systems  in  develop- 
ing the  means  of  training  the  children. 

A  hopeful  sign  is  the  fact  that  not  only  all  educators, 
from  state  superintendents  of  instruction  to  district 
school  teachers,  but  all  classes  of  men  in  these  commu- 
nities and  all  types  of  organizations,  are  interested  in 
promoting  agricultural  education. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

INDUSTRY   AND   COMMERCE 

Aside  from  agriculture,  which  employs  more  of  the 
labour  of  the  Northwest  than  any  other  single  interest, 
the  people  are  engaged  in  a  considerable  variety  of 
diverse  industries.  At  one  time,  as  we  have  seen,  min- 
ing was  a  prominent  industry  both  in  Southern  Oregon 
and  in  many  portions  of  the  Inland  Empire.  The 
palmy  days  of  the  placer  fields  are  over,  at  least  for  the 
present,  and,  relatively,  activity  in  mining  has  greatly 
decreased.  Yet  there  are  a  number  of  centres  where 
quartz  mining  is  carried  on  to  a  considerable  extent 
while  attempts  to  earn  "  good  wages  "  by  "  panning  " 
gold  bearing  dirt  along  the  mountain  streams  are  fairly 
numerous,  though  the  business  cannot  be  dignified  as  a 
regular  or  important  industry.  The  metals  produced 
are  mainly  gold  and  silver,  copper,  zinc  and  lead.  But 
the  value  of  the  gold  produced  in  the  entire  Northwest 
is  a  mere  pittance  as  compared  with  Alaska,  or  with 
the  three  great  gold  producing  states,  California,  Colo- 
rado and  Nevada. 

The  coal  supply.  The  three  Northwestern  states 
have  an  original  coal  supply  estimated  at  65,573,100,- 
000  tons.    Of  this,  64,917,100,000  is  assigned  to  Wash- 

269 


270       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

ington,  1,000,000,000  to  Oregon,  and  only  700,000,- 
000  to  Idaho.  Only  about  100,000,000  of  this  supply 
had  been  exhausted  in  191 5.  Coal  mining,  however,  is 
engaging  more  attention  year  by  year.  The  require- 
ments of  transportation,  manufacturing,  and  other 
more  general  fuel  demands  have  created  a  strong  in- 
terest in  the  development  of  the  older  known  coal  fields 
like  those  in  the  Coos  Bay  region  and  on  Puget  Sound, 
while  the  testing  out  of  new  prospects  goes  on  with 
promptness  and  enthusiasm.  Considerable  deposits  of 
valuable  coal  have  been  opened  in  the  Cascade  region 
of  Eastern  Washington  and  this  coal  field  is  rendered 
accessible  by  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway  which  tra- 
verses the  area.  The  Puget  Sound  coal  is  in  part 
easily  accessible  to  ocean  going  vessels.  The  coal  of 
Coos  Bay,  since  the  completion  last  year  of  the  Coos 
Bay  division  of  the  Southern  Pacific  Railway,  finds  a 
way  out  both  by  rail  and  by  water. 

The  coal  fields  of  Alaska  are  prospectively  a  resource 
to  the  entire  Northwest  as  furnishing  an  abundant 
supply  for  the  developing  manufactures  as  well  as  for 
the  transportation  agencies  of  this  country.  Their  ex- 
tent, while  known  to  be  considerable,  is  not  yet  accur- 
ately determined. 

Manufacturing;  lumber.  From  a  manufacturing 
point  of  view  the  Pacific  Northwest  is  still  in  the  in- 
fancy of  its  development.  Such  activity  as  there  has 
been,  which  in  the  total  is  large,  is  represented  mainly 
by  the  extractive  industries  —  making  a  primary  use 
of  the  vast  natural  resources  of  the  country.     In  this 


Industry  and  Commerce  271 

respect  the  extraction  of  values  from  the  native  forests 
holds  the  first  place  in  importance.  These  states  pos- 
sess extraordinary  opportunities  for  the  manufactur- 
ing of  lumber,  on  account  of  the  vast  areas  of  superb 
primeval  forest  growth  included  within  their  bound- 
aries. And  lumbering  has  become  an  industry  of 
large  proportions.  Probably  the  most  complete  lum- 
ber manufacturing  plants  to  be  found  in  the  world  are 
located  in  Washington  and  in  Oregon,  some  of  them 
having  been  substituted,  by  a  kind  of  evolution,  for 
small,  crude  mills  of  the  pioneer  days  of  the  industry, 
others  being  erected  as  new  ventures  at  suitable  points 
in  proximity  to  timber  supplies  large  enough  to  justify 
an  expectation  of  reasonable  permanency.  The  most 
abundant  timber  is  the  Douglas  fir,  sometimes  known 
in  the  eastern  markets  as  Oregon  pine;  but  there  are 
also  forests  of  spruce,  of  yellow  pine,  and  a  much 
smaller  supply  of  the  valuable  sugar  pine;  cedar,  and 
other  varieties  are  found  scattered  somewhat  widely 
among  the  more  common  growths.  For  some  pur- 
poses, as  for  furniture  making,  other  growths,  includ- 
ing the  maple  and  even  the  alder,  are  beginning  to  as- 
sume importance. 

The  rapid  development  of  the  lumbering  industry  of 
the  Northwest  has  come  since  1880,  when  it  began  to 
appear  that  the  bountiful  forests  of  Michigan,  Wiscon- 
sin, and  Minnesota  were  after  all  not  inexhaustible. 
Since  1900  the  production  of  the  Lake  states  has  de- 
clined sharply,  while  in  Oregon  and  W^ashington  the 
increase  has  been  enormous,  amounting  by   19 13  to 


272       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

about  6,700,000  M,  of  which  Washington  was  produc- 
ing 4,592,oooM,  and  Oregon  2,098,oooM. 

It  was  about  1900  that  the  larger  Uimber  manufac- 
turers and  capitaHsts  of  the  Middle  West  began  spying 
out  new  forest  land  in  which  to  operate  when  supplies 
of  timber  on  hand  should  fail.  Some  were  attracted 
to  the  Southern  States,  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Missis- 
sippi, Alabama,  Florida,  and  Georgia,  also  North  Caro- 
lina and  Texas.  All  of  those  states  in  consequence 
show  stupendous  increases  in  their  lumber  outputs, 
which  totalled  in  1913  i5,300,oooM,  as  against  less 
than  4,ooo,oooM,  for  the  Lake  group.  Others  began 
to  acquire  holdings  in  the  Pacific  states,  notably  Oregon 
and  Washington,  where  vast  tracts  were  brought  under 
the  control  of  a  few  wealthy  operators. 

Timber  land;  how  secured.  The  land  laws  of 
the  United  States  were  drawn  with  reference  to 
the  individual  cultivator  or  homesteader,  and  were 
ill  adapted  to  the  requirements  of  lumbering,  which 
calls  for  such  large  investments  in  machinery  as 
are  justified  only  on  the  assurance  that  raw  materials 
of  manufacture  —  in  this  case  timber  —  will  be  avail- 
able for  a  reasonable  number  of  years.  Being  unable 
to  purchase  such  supplies  of  timber  from  the  govern- 
ment, which  sold  only  to  individuals  and  in  lots  not  to 
exceed  160  acres,  operators  felt  themselves  under  the 
necessity  of  buying  the  lands  entered  by  private  holders. 
Since,  moreover,  every  operator,  on  contemplating  a 
new  business,  based  his  calculations  upon  the  exploita- 
tion of  a  given  body  of  timber  which  must  be  secured 


Industry  and  Commerce  273 

cheaply  in  order  to  insure  profits  and  minimize  risks, 
the  temptation  was  sometimes  overpowering  to  hire 
"dummy"  entrymen  to  take  up  the  lands  from  the 
government  and  turn  them  over  to  the  operator  on  re- 
ceiving the  government's  patent  therefor.  There  was 
a  time  when  the  contracting  of  one's  "  timber  right  " 
was  considered  a  perfectly  legitimate  process  of  "  bar- 
gaining and  selling."  It  involved  no  disgrace  to  either 
party.  But  during  the  Roosevelt  administration  a 
number  of  timber  land  frauds  were  prosecuted  to  con- 
viction and  the  public  finally  awoke  to  the  immorality 
of  such  proceedings,  which  involved  on  the  one  hand 
perjury  and  on  the  other  subornation  of  perjury,  with 
purpose  to  defraud  the  government  of  its  lands. 
Operators  are  now  content  to  buy  such  tracts  as  they 
want  from  legitimate  owners,  paying  on  the  basis  of 
stumpage.  They  are  sometimes  able  to  secure  abun- 
dant supplies  of  timber  by  contracting  for  stumpage 
growing  in  the  Forest  Reserves.  In  such  cases  they 
buy  no  land,  of  course,  and  they  harvest  the  timber 
when  ripe,  under  the  direction  of  government  for- 
esters. 

Competition  with  the  South.  The  land  fraud 
prosecutions  may  have  had  some  effect  in  delaying 
the  progress  of  the  lumber  business  in  the  Northwest, 
by  tending  to  impede  the  usual  process  of  acquiring 
timber  supplies  to  feed  the  proposed  manufactur- 
ing plants.  Yet,  doubtless,  the  main  reasons  why 
manufacturing  proceeded  more  slowly  here  than  in 
the  South  were  that  timber  was  not  readily  accessible 


274       ^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

and  markets  for  the  lumber  still  less  so.  A  long  rail 
haul  would  be  required  to  place  the  product  in  reach  of 
the  users  of  lumber  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  a 
very  long  water  haul  would  be  required  to  lay  it  down 
in  Europe  or  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  In  comparison, 
the  Southern  forests  were  near  the  great  markets  both 
of  America  and  of  Europe.  This  explains  why  Ore- 
gon and  Washington  in  19 13  produced  6,690,oooM, 
as  against  the  i5,300,oooM,  produced  in  the  eight 
southern  states  named. 

Nevertheless,  lumbering  had  definitely  taken  its  place 
as  the  leading  manufacturing  industry  in  these  states. 
Already,  there  are  centres  where  the  manufacture  of 
lumber  is  producing  important  towns  and  cities,  as  it 
did  in  Michigan,  as  witness  Saginaw  and  Grand 
Rapids,  or  in  Wisconsin  where  Oshkosh  and  Lacrosse 
illustrate  the  same  tendency.  And,  moreover,  so  large 
is  the  lumber  industry  that  when  its  prosperity  wanes 
the  entire  industrial  and  commercial  life  of  these  states 
is  seriously  affected.  When  lumber  prospers  the  case 
is  reversed. 

The  market  for  lumber.  The  prosperity  of  the 
lumber  business  depends  on  an  unfailing  market,  on 
low  freight  rates  on  the  overland  railway  lines,  and 
on  the  excellence  and  cheapness  of  water  transporta- 
tion. This  explains  the  eager,  determined  interest 
which  Northwestern  people  have  taken  in  the  tariff 
on  lumber,  in  the  decisions  of  the  interstate  com- 
merce   commission    respecting    freight   rates,    and    in 


Industry  and  Commerce  i-j^ 

the  question  of  free  tolls  for  vessels  passing  through 
the  Isthmian  Canal. 

Similarly,  these  states  have  a  direct  interest  in  the 
termination  of  the  European  war,  for  it  seems  certain 
that  when  peace  comes  the  demand  for  lumber  to  re- 
build portions  of  devastated  Europe  will  tax  the  pro- 
duction capacity  of  the  Northwest  for  a  number  of 
years.  Arrangements  are  now  being  made,  in  antici- 
pation of  the  new  demand,  for  increasing  the  producing 
capacity  of  existing  plants,  while  many  new  ones  are 
being  erected  and  still  others  planned. 

From  what  has  already  been  achieved  and  from  the 
reasonable  expectation  of  the  future,  it  may  be  assumed 
that  lumbering  in  this  section  wall  pioneer  the  way  for 
a  general  manufacturing  development,  as  it  has  done  in 
other  sections  of  the  United  States.  It  is  giving  rise, 
gradually,  to  the  manufacture  of  furniture  and  other 
finished  products  into  which  lumber  enters,  and  it  will 
probably  result  in  building  up  a  considerable  group  of 
inland  cities  having  a  permanent  economic  support  in 
such  manufacturing  industries.  At  the  sea-ports  an 
extraordinary  interest  in  the  building  of  w'ooden  ships, 
stimulated  by  the  war,  promises  to  reproduce  on  this 
coast  some  of  the  features  of  the  noted  centres  of  that 
industry  on  the  north  Atlantic  coast. 

Manufacture  of  paper.  One  of  the  significant 
secondary  products  derived  from  the  forests  is  paper, 
which  at  some  points,  notably  at  the  falls  of  the  Wil- 
lamette   (Oregon    City),    is   manufactured    in   large 


276      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

quantities  in  plants  representing  heavy  investments, 
employing  a  considerable  number  of  mechanics  and 
other  labourers,  and  using  the  most  modern  equip- 
ment. The  material  used  is  certain  varieties  of  soft 
woods,  especially  the  so-called  "  balm-of-Gilead " 
which  grows  along  the  water  courses  and  in  some 
cases  can  be  floated  to  the  mills  at  a  slight  cost 
for  transportation.  The  same  material  is  used  also  in 
the  manufacture  of  "  excelsior  "  used  in  packing,  for 
making  cheap  mattresses,  etc.  Excelsior  mills,  being 
cheap  and  simple  in  their  construction  and  equipment, 
are  distributed  rather  widely,  as  are  also  shingle  mills 
for  similar  reasons. 

Packing  fish,  especially  salmon.  The  preparation 
and  packing  of  fish,  especially  salmon,  constitutes  in 
Washington  and  Oregon  a  large  and  important  though 
not  a  progressively  expanding  industry.  The  busi- 
ness began  on  the  lower  Columbia  about  the  year  1866, 
prior  to  which  time  much  salmon  was  taken  and 
salted  but  not  canned.  There  was  a  rapid  increase 
during  the  first  ten  years.  In  1866,  the  first  year  for 
which  we  have  statistics,  the  pack  amounted  to  only 
4,000  cases.^  In  1876,  it  was  450,000  cases.  By 
that  time  the  interest  in  salmon  packing  had  extended 
to  Puget  Sound,  to  Gray's  Harbour  in  Washington, 
and    to    the    coastal    streams    in    Oregon,    but    the 

1  All  figures  are  reduced  to  a  common  basis  of  48  one-pound 
cans  to  the  case.  The  information  relating  to  the  salmon  pack 
from  1866  to  1916  was  furnished  by  the  School  of  Commerce, 
University  of  Oregon. 


Industry  and  Commerce  277 

quantities  produced  elsewhere  than  on  the  Columbia 
were  light.  Puget  Sound,  however,  passed  the  100,- 
000  mark  in  1895  and  six  years  later  passed  the  one 
million  mark,  the  pack  of  that  region  in  1901  being 
1,380,590  cases.  This  high  record  has  been  broken 
three  times  since  1901 :  in  1909  with  1,632,949  cases, 
191 1  with  1,557,029  cases,  and  1913  with  the  huge 
output  of  2,583,463  cases.  The  pack  of  the  Columbia 
has  varied  in  extent  from  629,400  cases  in  1883  to  253,- 
334  cases  in  1908.  In  forty-one  seasons  the  Columbia 
pack  has  exceeded  400,000  cases  twenty-one  times,  and 
it  has  never  in  that  period  dropped  below  250,000 
cases.  The  coastal  streams  of  Oregon  show  their 
highest  production  in  1907,  with  197,332  cases. 
Gray's  Harbour  in  Washington  has  produced  as  high 
as  y2,y2y  cases  and  a  later  developed  area  in  Wash- 
ington, Willapa  Harbour,  has  produced  40,000  cases. 
The  total  pack  of  the  Northwest  in  1866,  as  stated,  was 
4,000  cases,  and  in  1876,  450,000  cases.  Ten  years 
later  it  was  515,000,  in  1896  it  was  810,900,  in  1906 
it  was  1,057,230  cases,  and  in  1916  the  total  was  1,410,- 
126  cases.  Thus  it  appears  that  the  industry  is  some- 
what fluctuating,  due  to  the  seasonal  variations  in  the 
salmon  run.  The  packing  factories  (canneries)  are 
located  conveniently  near  the  supplies  of  fish,  on  the 
rivers  and  inlets,  v^^hich  reduces  the  labour  requirement 
to  a  low  minimum  in  relation  to  the  value  of  the  prod- 
uct and  the  capital  invested.  Legislation  looking  to 
the  conservation  of  the  fisheries,  which  provides  for 
the    maintenance    of    hatcheries    for    restocking    the 


278       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

streams,  the  regulation  of  the  fishing  seasons,  modes  of 
fishing,  etc.,  may  perhaps  result  in  stabilizing  the  indus- 
try on  approximately  its  present  basis. 

Packing  fruits  and  vegetables.  The  business  of 
packing  fruits  and  vegetables  is  steadily  growing  in 
importance  throughout  the  Northwest,  the  region  it- 
self gaining  distinction  for  both  the  quality  and  the 
output  in  these  lines.  A  portion  of  the  fruit,  espe- 
cially the  prune  crop  and  a  portion  of  the  peach 
crop,  is  dried  or  "  evaporated  "  for  marketing.  But 
cherries,  pears,  small  fruits,  and  a  great  variety 
of  vegetables  are  mostly  canned.  The  number  of  pack- 
ing plants,  or  canneries,  is  large  and  their  distribution 
such  as  to  serve  appreciable  areas  of  country.  Some 
of  the  most  successful  of  these  are  conducted  on  the  co- 
operative plan,  the  growers  themselves  owning  the 
stock  and  managing  the  business  through  the  agency  of 
boards  of  directors  and  superintendents.  Since  the 
fruit  cannery  exists  for  the  purpose  of  saving  such 
portions  of  the  various  crops  as  cannot  be  marketed 
in  a  fresh  state,  the  association  which  owns  the  can- 
nery usually  is  primarily  a  fruit  marketing  organiza- 
tion. Nevertheless,  the  business  necessarily  increases 
relatively  to  the  rapid  increase  which  is  taking  place  in 
the  production  of  those  kinds  of  fruit,  like  cherries 
and  Loganberries,  for  which  the  demand  in  the 
fresh  state  bears  only  a  small  proportion  to  the  total 
supply. 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  manufacture 
of  milk  products,  butter,  cheese,  and  condensed  milk. 


Industry  and  Commerce  279 

in  which  an  almost  indefinite  expansion  can  be  expected 
in  the  future. 

Beet  sugar  manufactories.  Several  plants  for  the 
manufacture  of  beet  sugar  exist  in  this  region  and 
others  are  promised.  If  general  conditions  continue 
to  favour  the  industry  the  beet  sugar  factory  will  un- 
doubtedly take  its  place  as  one  of  the  resources  of 
the  Northwestern  farmers  generally  for  securing 
profits  from  the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  The  growing 
of  beets  for  this  purpose  contributes  to  the  building 
of  a  permanent  agriculture  since  the  beet  tops  can 
be  used  for  silage  and  the  pulp  which  is  left  after 
extracting  the  sugar  is  accounted  a  valuable  food, 
both  for  dairy  cows  and  other  stock.  Idaho,  Eastern 
Washington,  Eastern  Oregon  and  Southern  Oregon 
appear  to  possess  special  advantages  in  beet  sugar  pro- 
duction because  for  reasons  connected  with  soil  and 
climate  the  sugar  content  of  beets  grown  in  those  sec- 
tions is  especially  high. 

Manufacturing  nitrogen  from  the  air.  One  of 
the  most  interesting  investigations  into  manufactur- 
ing possibilities  has  been  with  reference  to  plants  for 
the  extraction  of  nitrogen  from  the  air  by  electrical 
processes.  Owing  to  the  unlimited  water  powers  and 
the  consequent  cheapness  with  which  electric  energy 
can  be  produced,  it  is  believed  that  the  Northwest  can 
enter  upon  that  line  of  manufacture  with  reasonable 
hopes  of  success.  The  United  States  government,  for 
reasons  of  military  preparedness,  appears  to  have  some 
interest  in  such  projects,  but  their  permanent  success 


2  8o      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

would  depend  on  the  demand  for  artificial  fertilizers 
occasioned  by  the  change  to  a  more  intensive  agricul- 
ture, and  the  very  rapid  development  of  horticulture 
and  of  truck  farming  in  the  region  itself  and  in  other 
accessible  regions. 

The  prospective  general  use  of  electric  power  in 
industry.  The  abundance  of  water  powers  in  these 
states  has  also  suggested  a  very  general  and  widespread 
use  of  electric  energy  for  the  doing  of  all  kinds  of 
work  like  driving  machinery  in  shops,  and  even  in 
homes,  as  well  as  in  factories.  Being  both  cheap  and 
easy  to  distribute  and  to  apply  under  favourable  condi- 
tions, the  small  business  can  employ  it  almost  as  eco- 
nomically as  the  large  one.  Some  of  the  cities  of  the 
Northwest  have  municipally  owned  power  plants, 
others  privately  owned.  The  economy  involved  in  a 
large  scale  development  of  powers,  instead  of  small 
ones,  stimulates  the  quest  for  a  market  for  electric 
energy  beyond  that  implied  in  a  demand  for  electric 
lighting.  All  are  therefore  trying  to  sell  energy  for 
every  purpose  in  the  towns  served  by  power  plants. 
Beginnings  have  already  been  made  toward  equipping 
homes  with  electric  heating  appliances,  which  can  be 
done  where  power  is  cheap  at  rates  which  are  eco- 
nomical as  compared  with  heating  by  means  of  wood 
or  coal.  There  are  chimneyless  farmhouses  in  certain 
sections,  all  cooking  as  well  as  heating  being  done  with 
electricity.  On  some  farms,  too,  electric  power  is  em- 
ployed to  drive  household  and  bam  machinery,  to 
pump  water,  etc.     If  those  thinkers  are  right  who  ad- 


Industry  and  Commerce  281 

vocate  a  revival  of  individual  and  family,  or  small 
group,  industrial  production  as  a  cure  for  some  of  the 
evils  of  factory  production,  then  the  Pacific  North- 
west should  be  among  the  first  regions  of  the  United 
States  to  make  the  experiment. 

Northwestern  water  powers.  The  actually  exist- 
ing water  powers  of  the  Northwest  have  only  begun 
to  be  used.  These  three  states  with  northern  Cali- 
fornia contain,  it  is  estimated,  at  a  minimum  12,- 
979,700,  at  a  maximum  24,701,000  horse  power,  or 
nearly  one-third  of  the  entire  water  power  of  the 
United  States.  The  Des  Chutes  of  Oregon  alone 
has  a  capacity  of  1,920,000  horse  power,  and  numbers 
of  streams  in  nearly  all  portions  of  the  area  are  sus- 
ceptible of  large  development.  Up  to  the  present  time 
the  sparseness  of  the  population  in  most  sections  mili- 
tates against  power  development,  since  the  cost  of  dis- 
tributing systems  prevents  the  cheap  marketing  of 
energy.  All  of  the  centres  of  population  are  supplied 
from  near-by  sources,  leaving  the  vast  majority  of  our 
water  powers  untouched.  The  growth  of  the  popula- 
tion will  bring  new  powers  into  use  constantly,  and  the 
rapid  growth  of  towns,  together  with  the  development 
of  closely  built  orcharding  communities,  makes  fresh 
markets  requiring  in  a  number  of  cases  the  tapping  of 
new  power  resources. 

External  commerce;  beginning.  The  history  of 
the  external  commerce  of  the  Northwest  began,  as 
we  have  seen,  with  the  efforts  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company's  agents  to  add  to  the  company's  profits  by 


282       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

such  trade.  They  were  primarily  fur  traders,  but 
the  cheapest  way  to  purchase  the  furs  taken  by  the 
Russians  along  the  coasts  of  Alaska  and  on  the 
northern  isles  was  to  exchange  for  them  wheat,  flour, 
and  other  foodstuffs  for  which  the  Russians  were  will- 
ing to  pay  high  prices.  These  supplies  were  produced 
at  Fort  Vancouver,  and  afterwards  in  the  Willamette 
valley  only  a  few  miles  away.  They  could  be  bought 
by  the  company  in  exchange  for  their  merchandize, 
brought  from  London.  By  charging  a  good  profit  on 
the  shoes,  clothing,  sugar,  coffee,  and  other  articles 
sold  to  the  Oregon  settlers  in  exchange  for  wheat,  and 
then,  at  Sitka,  receiving  a  good  profit  once  more  in 
the  shape  of  fur,  for  the  wheat  and  flour  delivered 
there,  the  company  was  sure  to  prosper  in  that  branch 
of  its  activity.  They  needed  a  sawmill  for  supplying 
their  own  lumber  requirements,  but  once  in  operation 
this  plant  could  produce  economically  an  occasional 
cargo  of  lumber  for  shipment,  which  usually  went  to 
the  Hawaiian  Islands.  Thus  our  external  commerce 
began  with  wheat  and  lumber  as  the  Northwest's  con- 
tribution and  wheat  and  lumber  have  remained  to  the 
present  time  the  leading  and  almost  the  sole  important 
items  in  our  foreign  trade. 

When  the  territory  of  Oregon  was  created  by  act  of 
Congress  in  August,  1848,  a  United  States  custom 
house,  the  first  on  the  western  coast,  was  established  at 
Astoria.  For  some  years  the  ships  entering  and  clear- 
ing at  that  port  were  almost  without  exception  engaged 
in  the  California  trade.     But,  as  California's  demand 


Industry  and  Commerce  283 

for  Oregon  wheat  and  Oregon  lumber  waned,  because 
of  local  developments  in  farming  and  lumbering,  other 
markets  were  gradually  found.  In  the  years  1865- 
1867,  for  example,  most  of  the  ships  entering  at 
Astoria  were  from  Victoria,  Vancouver  Island,  and 
from  Honolulu.  There  was  one  from  Mexico  which 
brought  a  cargo  of  salt  in  bulk,  over  three  hundred 
tons.  The  bark  Cambridge,  from  Honolulu,  in  the 
same  year  (1865)  brought  brown  sugar,  molasses, 
limes,  bananas,  watermelons,  and  oranges.  At  the 
same  time  a  schooner  from  Victoria  unloaded  furni- 
ture, pig  iron,  coal,  coal  tar,  cod-fish,  cast  iron  beds, 
several  chests  of  tea,  brandy,  dress  silks,  wool  shirts, 
mixed  shirts,  worsted  table  spreads,  checked  cotton 
cloth,  and  tweed  coats  —  in  short,  a  cargo  made  up  of 
British  manufactures  mainly  and  evidently  derived 
from  Britain  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  now 
domiciled  at  Victoria,  for  trade  with  their  one-time 
neighbours  on  the  Columbia.  In  1868  a  ship  came  in 
from  Liverpool,  also  one  from  Hongkong.  The 
former  brought  earthen  ware,  stone  ware,  one  thousand 
sacks  of  rice,  matting,  tea,  oil,  ginger,  etc.  The  latter 
delivered  anvils,  vices,  chains,  saws,  band  iron,  bar 
iron,  horse  shoe  nails,  curry  combs,  and  w'orsted  cloth. 
These  examples  give  some  idea  of  the  diversity  of 
the  inward  trade.  Going  out  the  ships  carried  away, 
aside  from  lumber  and  wheat,  quantities  of  gold  dust 
produced  from  the  Inland  Empire  mines.  By  the  year 
1870  the  trade  had  sensibly  increased.  In  October  of 
that  year  the  United  States  government  established  the 


284      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Willamette  customs  district,  with  a  custom  house  at 
Portland. 

When  Commander  Charles  Wilkes  reported  on  his 
exploring  expedition  of  the  years  1838  to  1842,  which 
carried  him  through  nearly  the  entire  circuit  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  he  predicted  a  great  foreign  trade  for 
the  American  communities  destined  to  arise  in  Oregon 
and  California.  Wilkes  was  especially  impressed  with 
the  harbours  of  Puget  Sound  and  of  San  Francisco  — 
"  two  of  the  finest  ports  in  the  world."  Trade  would 
spring  up,  he  believed,  between  the  west  coast  of  Amer- 
ica and  "  the  whole  of  Polynesia,  as  well  as  the  coun- 
tries of  South  America  on  the  one  side  and  China, 
New  Holland  (Australia),  and  New  Zealand  on  the 
other.  Among  the  latter,  before  many  years,  may  be 
included  Japan."  He  adds,  "  Such  various  climates 
will  furnish  the  materials  for  a  beneficial  interchange 
of  products  and  an  intercourse  that  must  in  time  be- 
come immense." 

Prophecies  of  Charles  Wilkes.  Wilkes'  predic- 
tion, insofar  as  it  relates  to  the  Pacific  Northwest, 
is  not  yet  fulfilled  in  all  respects.  Yet  there  is 
much  in  the  course  of  our  foreign  trade  which  justi- 
fies it.  In  particular,  the  directions  which  that  trade 
now  takes  on  leaving  the  Northwestern  ports  ap- 
pear in  the  main  to  have  been  clearly  outlined  by 
Wilkes  seventy  years  ago.  H  we  take  the  list  of  ports 
given  in  the  Portland  custom  house  records  of  ships 
clearing  from  that  port  from  January,  1909,  to  Decem- 
ber, 1916,  we  find:     (i)  That  the  cargoes  in  all  cases 


Industry  and  Commerce  285 

are  either  lumber,  or  wheat,  flour,  grain;  in  two  or 
three  cases  only  are  they  ''barley."  (2)  The  lumber 
cargoes  were  destined  for  Hongkong,  New  Zealand, 
Australia,  Manila  and  Calcutta;  to  Shanghai,  Hankow, 
and  Tsingtau  in  China;  to  Tokio,  Kobi,  and  Yoka- 
hama  in  Japan  ;  to  Callao,  Darien,  Colon,  Buenos  Ayres 
in  Central  and  South  America ;  also  to  Delagoa  Bay,  to 
Antafagasta,  to  Kale,  to  Port  Pirie,  to  Dalny;  also  to 
Queenstown  for  orders,  to  Newcastle,  to  Cape  Town 
and  to  Hamburg.  (3)  Wheat  and  grain  cargoes  went 
to  Hongkong,  to  New  Zealand,  to  Queenstown  for 
orders,  to  Dublin,  to  St.  Vincent  for  orders,  to  Ipswich, 
London,  and  Avonmouth,  to  Teneriffe,  Marseilles, 
Callao,  Las  Palmas,  Antwerp  and  Rotterdam. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  commerce  originating  in 
the  Northwestern  states  is  carried  eastward  by  rail 
and  amalgamated  with  the  commerce  of  the  Atlantic 
ports.  The  extent  of  such  shipments  cannot  readily  be 
ascertained.  Moreover,  much  coastwise  trade  exists 
which  adds  commerce  of  Northwestern  origin  to  the 
foreign  business  credited  to  San  Francisco.  These 
facts  affect  the  total  of  our  shipments  to  foreign  ports 
very  materially  and  they  should  be  noted  when  statis- 
tics are  under  consideration.  Also,  the  fact  should  be 
noted  that  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Oregon  trade 
passes  through  Puget  Sound  ports,  thus  affecting  the 
relative  trade  statistics  of  Oregon  and  Washington. 
Idaho,  of  course,  sends  all  of  her  products  out  by  way 
of  the  ports  of  Oregon  and  Washington,  except  the 
portion  borne  eastward  by  rail. 


2  86      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

Statistics  of  commerce.  Government  statistics  for 
the  years  19 14  and  191 5  show  the  following  totals: 
From  Oregon  ports  were  exported,  in  19 14,  products 
nearly  all  domestic,  amounting  to  $13,806,260  and 
from  Washington  $6v,374,909.  The  next  year  Ore- 
gon's exports  were  $20,405,601  and  Washington's 
were  $67,887,784.  Oregon's  imports  in  1914  were 
valued  at  $3,890,000  and  in  19 15  at  $4,716,390,  while 
Washington's  imports  were  $55,391,565  and  $68,466,- 
567  in  the  respective  years.  By  way  of  comparison  it 
may  be  pointed  out  that  in  the  year  19 14  California 
exported  goods  valued  at  $65,000,000,  which  sum  was 
increased  the  next  year  to  $84,000,000.  She  im- 
ported in  19 14  to  the  extent  of  $72,000,000  and  in 
191 5  to  the  extent  of  $71,000,000. 

The  Alaska  trade.  The  trade  of  Alaska  is  a  mat- 
ter of  very  great  interest  to  the  entire  Pacific  North- 
west, and  it  engenders  keen  rivalry  among  the  North- 
western ports.  Thus  far  the  Puget  Sound  ports,  espe- 
cially Seattle,  have  profited  most  from  the  Alaska 
trade.  By  reason  of  the  protected  channel  from  Puget 
Sound  to  the  southern  Alaska  ports,  it  would  seem  that 
this  trade  can  be  prosecuted  more  economically  from 
the  northern  ports  than  from  Oregon,  except  as  to 
those  articles  which  are  produced  in  the  region  geo- 
graphically tributary  to  the  Oregon  ports  or  those  car- 
ried coastward  from  the  far  interior  by  the  routes 
reaching  most  easily  one  of  the  southern  ports. 

The  beginnings  of  the  Alaska  trade  are  graphically 
described  by  Mr.  Henry  Villard  in  his  "  Memoirs."     In 


Industry  and  Commerce  287 

April,  1876,  Villard  sailed  from  San  Francisco  to 
Portland.  "  On  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia 
river,"  he  says,  "  we  saw  a  little  screw  steamer  of  300 
tons  register  dancing  up  and  down  on  the  agitated  sea. 
It  proved  to  be  the  Gussie  Telfair  ...  on  her  way 
from  Alaska  to  Portland,  but  detained  outside  by  the 
rough  sea  on  the  bar.  She  brought  down  from  the 
recently  acquired  American  possession  three  passen- 
gers, a  score  of  tons  of  miscellaneous  freight,  and  a 
letter  bag  with  less  than  thirty  letters.  .  .  .  The  tri- 
fling load  described  was  about  equal  to  the  average  one 
for  a  trip  one  way  and  the  business  of  the  year  aggre- 
gated only  a  few  hundred  passengers  and  not  exceed- 
ing 700  tons  of  other  than  government  freight.  That 
represented  practically  the  total  of  the  i\laska  trade  of 
those  days,  and  it  grew  very  slowly."  Villard  was 
writing  in  the  year  1899,  ^^''^^  his  reminiscent  statement, 
given  above,  is  for  purposes  of  comparison  with  the 
Alaska  trade  of  the  later  time,  after  the  Klondike  and 
other  gold  discoveries  had  awakened  the  vast  North- 
land into  a  new  life.  He  says :  "  During  the  past  and 
present  seasons  (1898  and  1899)  fifteen  steamers  rang- 
ing from  two  thousand  seven  hundred  to  a  few  hun- 
dred tons  capacity,  carried  tens  of  thousands  of  passen- 
gers and  freight  aggregating  not  far  from  a  hundred 
thousand  tons  to  and  from  Alaska." 

Without  attempting  to  trace  the  progress  of  the 
Alaska  trade  in  detail,  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  the 
Collector  of  Customs  for  the  Alaska  District,  report- 
ing for  the  year  ending  December  31,  19 16,  gives  the 


288      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

following  totals:  Merchandise  received  from  the 
United  States,  $30,834,793;  shipped  to  the  United 
States  $62,507,811.  Alaska  shipped  to  foreign  coun- 
tries, merchandise,  $1,544,182,  gold  and  silver,  $2,- 
936,018.  Her  total  exports  were  $84,622,450  and 
total  imports  $35,314,993.  From  1868  to  the  end  of 
191 6  Alaska  is  shown  to  have  had  a  total  trade,  in  sea 
and  fur  products,  of  $323,042,290,  in  products  of 
mines  $345,752,111,  making  a  grand  total  of  $668,- 
794,401. 

An  analysis  of  the  trade  for  the  years  1913,  1914, 
191 5,  and  191 6  shovi^s  that  the  largest  item  now  is  cop- 
per, which  in  1916  accounted  for  $333^  millions  of 
dollars,  an  advance  of  nearly  thirty  millions  over  the 
production  of  1913.  Gold  and  silver  made  in  1913 
$13  millions  of  dollars,  $14  2-3  millions  of  dollars  in 
1 914,  $16  millions  of  dollars  in  191 5  and  $16  1-3  mil- 
lions of  dollars  in  1916.  The  other  large  item  is 
canned  salmon,  which  in  1916  makes  $21^  millions 
of  dollars  of  exports. 

It  will  be  seen  that  Alaska  produces  vast  quantities 
of  the  precious  metals  and  of  copper,  as  compared  with 
the  states  of  the  Pacific  Northwest.  These  and  her 
canned  salmon,  furs,  etc.,  give  her  people  a  large  aver- 
age purchasing  ability  which  explains  the  highly  desir- 
able character  of  the  Alaska  trade.  As  yet,  most  of 
the  general  supplies  required  by  them  are  imported 
much  as  they  were  in  the  days  of  the  Russian  fur 
trade.  Nevertheless,  this  market  cannot  be  regarded 
as  permanent,  for  Alaska,  too,  is  beginning  to  develop 


Industry  and  Commerce  289 

her  agricultural  and  other  resources  which  in  some 
sections  are  not  inconsiderable.  Moreover,  Alaska 
has  an  enormous  reserve  in  her  timber,  which  one  day 
will  seek  an  outside  market  in  competition  with  that 
from  the  Northwestern  states,  and  the  exports  of  lum- 
ber will  purchase,  partly  in  foreign  markets,  many  of 
the  articles  now  brought  in  from  Seattle  or  from  Port- 
land. 

Influence  of  the  Isthmian  Canal.  It  is  too  early 
to  speak  definitely  about  the  changes  in  Northwestern 
commerce  due  to  the  Isthmian  Canal.  But  it  is  clear 
that,  while  the  canal  w'ill  open  the  Pacific  basin  to 
the  trade  of  Atlantic  and  Gulf  ports,  it  will  at  the 
same  time  open  the  Atlantic  basin  to  the  ports  along 
the  Pacific,  including  those  of  the  Northwestern  states, 
and  such  an  exchange  should  prove  not  unfavourable 
to  this  region.  The  general  feeling  here  is  that,  for 
the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  Pacific  coast  states, 
their  commercial  opportunities  are  equal  to  those  of  the 
Atlantic  states ;  and  it  is  expected  that  when  the  Euro- 
pean war  ends,  and  the  distinctive  products  of  the 
Northwest  —  especially  lumber,  fish,  and  fruits  —  come 
once  more  into  normal  request  abroad,  the  commercial 
progress  of  these  states  is  likely  to  be  phenomenal. 


CHAPTER  XX 

SOCIAL    AND    POLITICAL    CHANGE 

Observations  of  a  traveller  in  the   Northwest. 

Entering  the  Oregon  country  by  the  old  "  Oregon 
Trail"  in  the  summer  of  1900,  the  writer  was  im- 
pressed with  the  thought  that  pioneer  conditions  were 
both  absent  and  present.  Compared  to  the  social  bar- 
renness, matching  the  physical  barrenness,  which  was 
encountered  by  the  emigrants  of  1843,  '44>  and  '45, 
one  found  every  night  even  in  the  mountain  stretches 
a  sheltering  ranch  house  by  the  side  of  the  trail  and 
usually  good  and  abundant  food.  The  line  of  the 
North  Platte  was  marked  by  irrigated  alfalfa  meadows. 
On  the  Sweetwater  also  an  occasional  level,  near  a 
convenient  water  privilege,  was  ditched  and  cultivated, 
usually  to  produce  winter  feed  for  cattle,  though  here 
and  there  was  a  field  of  wheat  grown  by  irrigation. 
Land  was  still  cheap  in  those  regions ;  in  fact  excellent 
irrigated  bottom  land  on  the  Platte  was  selling  as  low 
as  $20.00  per  acre,  not  an  excessive  price  for  wheat 
land  guaranteed  to  produce  a  large  yield  each  year. 

iThe  sources  of  information  for  the  present  chapter,  which 
deals  mainly  with  recent  developments,  are  in  large  part  the  di- 
rect observations  made  by  the  author  during  a  residence  of  seven- 
teen years  in  the  state  of  Oregon. 

290 


Social  and  Political  Change  291 

From  Caspar,  Wyoming,  to  Rock  Springs,  a  distance 
of  some  two  hundred  miles  along  the  upper  Platte, 
the  Sweetwater,  and  over  the  mountains  by  way  of 
South  Pass  there  were  no  towns  along  the  trail  save 
the  most  primitive  supply  stations  which  were  sep- 
arated by  intervals  of,  say,  fifty  or  sixty  miles.  The 
ranches  in  that  region  sometimes  neighboured  as  close 
together  as  five  or  six  miles,  more  often  ten  or  twelve, 
sometimes  eighteen  or  twenty,  and  once  it  was  neces- 
sary to  travel  forty  miles  in  an  afternoon  in  order  to 
find  food  and  lodging. 

The  journey,  afoot  and  awheel,  was  tedious  on  ac- 
count of  sandy  roads  and  strong,  persistent  head  winds. 
Sometimes  the  length  and  steepness  of  the  grades  ren- 
dered the  toil  of  travel  excessive.  Yet,  for  travellers 
equipped  with  bicycles  there  were  no  other  hardships, 
for  one  journeyed  day  after  day  through  a  country 
which  was  "  settled,"  albeit  with  only  a  sparse  popula- 
tion. 

The  ranch  houses  encountered  were  genuine  homes, 
representing  the  best  traditions  of  American  frontier 
life.  They  contained  the  usual  comforts  of  farm 
homes  and  sometimes  showed  evidences  of  taste. 
Some  good  furniture,  musical  instruments,  books, 
papers  and  magazines  were  customary  accessories. 

The  rancher  was  commonly  a  man  of  much  more 
than  the  average  intelligence.  He  was  likewise 
spirited,  resourceful,  self-confident  —  sometimes  self- 
assertive  and  arrogant.  He  made  a  sharp  as  well  as 
broad  distinction  between  his  own  class  and  the  class 


292       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

he  described  as  "  hayseed  farmers."  He  felt  himself 
to  be  a  kind  of  free  continental  aristocrat  —  a  latter- 
day  baron  whose  "  fief,"  a  hundred  square  miles  of 
billowy  grass  land,  supported  no  serfs  and  owed  no 
services.  His  capital  was  mainly  in  his  cattle.  The 
herds  varied  in  size  from  a  few  score  to  many  hun- 
dreds. The  unit  of  value  was  the  marketable  "  steer," 
usually  a  three  year  old  animal,  fattened  on  the  range. 
It  was  estimated  that  the  cost  of  producing  such  an 
animal,  under  range  conditions,  was  between  twelve 
and  fifteen  dollars.     It  would  sell  for  fifty  dollars. 

Status  of  the  "  rancher  "  in  commerce.  Thus  the 
owner  of  many  cattle  was  a  man  of  wealth.  He  could 
exert  economic  power  which  would  be  felt  far  beyond 
the  boundaries  of  his  unstinted  "  range." 

The  type  met  with  along  the  historic  trail  in  Ne- 
braska and  in  Wyoming  was  the  type  of  the  rancher 
of  Idaho,  Oregon,  and  Washington.  In  those  states, 
as  elsewhere,  he  often  assumed  the  role  of  the  "  big 
business  "  man  in  other  ways  than  as  a  large  shipper 
of  livestock  or  a  "  cattle  king."  Sometimes  he  invested 
money  in  banks,  in  railroad  stocks,  or  in  city  property. 
He  had  his  rating  in  the  commercial  reviews,  and 
could  hobnob  with  bankers,  railroad  presidents,  and 
metropolitan  merchants.  He  perhaps  made  no  display 
of  religion  or  philanthropy,  yet  he  often  helped  to  build 
churches,  or  to  endow  colleges. 

In  politics.  The  rancher  had  a  liking  for  politics. 
He  attended  party  caucuses  and  conventions,  ran  for 
the  state  legislature,  and  sometimes  defeated  a  lawyer 


Social  and  Political  Change  293 

or  metropolitan  "  business  man  "  in  the  race  for  a  seat 
in  Congress,  In  proportion  to  their  numbers,  the 
ranchers  of  the  Northwest  have  constituted  a  highly 
impressive  class.  Emerging  from  isolation  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  larger  life  of  their  commonwealths,  they 
sometimes  succeeded  through  a  natural  or  acquired 
wisdom  and  eloquence,  sometimes  by  virtue  of  a  capa- 
cious wallet. 

Not  infrequently  the  rancher  was  a  picturesque 
character  and  this  fact,  when  it  did  not  make  him  seem 
absurd,  imparted  a  dramatic  quality  which  appeals  to 
large  sections  of  the  public. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  in  recent  years  ranch 
life  has  come  to  be  idealized  and  in  consequence  it  has 
attracted  men  and  women  of  superior  attainments  and 
culture.  The  city  and  college  bred  rancher,  with  splen- 
did social,  business,  and  family  connections  in  the  east, 
is  not  altogether  a  rarity,  though  of  course  he  is  the  ex- 
ceptional citizen  on  the  sage  plains  as  elsewhere. 

Changes  in  social  life  of  the  ranchers.  Impor- 
tant changes  are  taking  place  in  the  social  life  of 
the  ranching  population.  A  transition  similar  to  the 
change  from  the  sprawling,  unscientific  pioneer  farm- 
ing to  the  tight,  efficient  modern  farming  has  oc- 
curred in  the  business  of  cattle  raising  and  sheep  rais- 
ing on  the  plains.  Winter  feeding  and  careful  breed- 
ing conserve  the  livestock  and  render  the  animals  much 
more  valuable  than  formerly.  The  "  home  ranch " 
or  farm  becomes  correspondingly  more  important  than 
the  "  out  range  "  which  once  was  all  important.     Re- 


294      ^  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

ducing  the  size  of  ranches  has  brought  neighbours 
nearer  together.  Often  a  fertile  river  valley  is  well 
settled  with  families  each  of  which  owns  hardly  more 
land  in  the  valley  than  would  make  a  farm  of  reason- 
able size,  range  land  being  occupied  outside.  Such  a 
valley  makes  a  pleasant  rural  community,  with  all  of 
the  social  facilities  of  the  usual  farm  neighbourhood 
and  with  something  additional  but  indefinable  due  to 
the  free,  joyous,  untired  spirit  of  ranch  life  as  con- 
trasted with  farm  life.  Moreover,  the  comparative 
opulence  of  the  ranchers,  the  scale  of  their  business 
operations,  their  frequent  trips  to  large  towns,  their 
outside  social  and  business  connections,  all  contribute 
to  lend  interest  to  the  life  of  these  communities. 

An  ideal  ranching  community.  A  present  day 
example  of  a  delightful  plan  of  ranching  came  to 
the  writer's  attention  recently.  A  group  of  eight 
individuals  and  families  selected  a  location  in  a  pleas- 
ant valley  some  sixty  miles  from  a  railway.  Here 
they  took  up  dry  land  homesteads,  which  under  a  recent 
act  of  Congress  may  reach  a  maximum  of  640  acres. 
The  group  have  expended  money  in  the  construction 
of  good  automobile  roads,  have  an  irrigating  system 
and  artesian  water  supply.  They  are  building  modern 
houses,  barns,  sheds,  etc.  Co-operating  in  this  manner 
they  will  create  not  merely  a  good  ranching  business, 
bringing  liberal  returns,  but  an  ideal  community  from 
which  the  old  isolation  and  crudeness  have  disap- 
peared. 

Fruit  growing  districts;  social  advantages.     By 


Social  and  Political  Change  295 

contrast  to  the  openness  of  settlement  on  the  sage 
plains,  the  Northwestern  states  present  a  number  of 
areas  devoted  to  fruit  growing,  where  agricultural 
populations  attain  a  closeness  of  social  organization 
approximating  the  incorporated  towns.  Thus  they  are 
able  to  give  themselves  those  fundamental  advantages 
of  living  represented  by  the  modern  home,  with  its 
water  and  sewer  services,  its  electric  light  and  electric 
power  and  garden  irrigation ;  schools  equal  to  those  of 
the  towns;  clubs,  lodges,  churches;  convenient  stores, 
shops,  etc.  If  one  were  asked  to  point  to  a  region 
where  rural  life  in  the  United  States  is  at  its  best, 
socially  considered,  he  would  probably  designate  one 
or  another  of  these  favoured  settlements,  of  which  it 
is  commonly  said  that  they  enjoy  all  the  advantages  of 
the  town  combined  with  those  of  the  country.  They 
differ  from  the  New  England  villages  of  early  times 
and  yet  have  the  promise  of  an  influence  similar  in 
many  respects.  In  them  co-operation  is  fostered,  the 
community  spirit  dominates  the  individual,  leaders  are 
discovered  and  public  opinion  takes  on  an  organic  char- 
acter to  replace  the  anarchic,  chaotic  quality  it  so  fre- 
quently presents  under  less  hopeful  circumstances. 

Changes  in  farm  life.  Rural  life  in  the  ordinary 
farming  sections  like  the  Williamette  Valley  is  pass- 
ing through  marked  changes  due  to  the  breaking-up 
of  the  large  farms  of  pioneer  times,  the  improvement 
of  roads,  the  construction  of  electric  rail  lines,  the  tele- 
phone and  the  automobile.  The  effort  to  improve 
social  conditions  is  perhaps  as  determined  here  as  else- 


296      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

where  in  the  United  States;  the  problem  to  be  solved 
is  not  especially  different,  the  obstacles  quite  as  unre- 
lenting. Indeed,  the  fluctuations  of  population,  the 
"  moving  out  "  of  old  settlers  and  "  moving  in  "  of 
new  possibly  adds  a  feature  which  is  absent  from  the 
problem  in  some  sections,  but  it  is  an  element  not  de- 
void of  certain  advantages.  Sometimes  the  only  hope 
of  improvement  in  a  neighbourhood  lies  in  the  intro- 
duction of  new  blood,  or  the  death  or  translation  of 
some  one  who  has  hindered  social  development. 

The  usual  plans  are  being  followed  in  the  main  by 
social  reformers  dealing  with  country  life.  They  in- 
clude the  attempt  to  organize  farmers  into  granges  or 
farmers'  unions,  to  develop  local  clubs,  to  promote  a 
better  and  more  adequate  type  of  rural  education  by 
substituting  the  systematized  consolidated  "  rural  life 
school  "  for  the  traditional  one-room  one-teacher  coun- 
try district  school.  There  are  attempts  likewise  to 
improve  the  recreational  and  religious  conditions  of  the 
country  neighbourhood. 

All  sorts  of  influences  are  at  work.  The  farm  peo- 
ple of  good  ideals  are  earnest  and  untiring.  Merchants 
and  bankers  are  interested,  state  agencies  like  univer- 
sity and  agricultural  college  extension  services  and  the 
educational  departments,  national  bureaus  of  educa- 
tion and  of  agriculture  —  all  are  active  here  as  in  other 
sections  of  the  United  States.  And  progress  is  being 
made,  although  to  the  impatient  reformer  the  forward 
movement  seems  slow  and  tedious. 

Organization  of  rural  communities  from  village 


Social  and  Political  Change  297 

centres.  One  new  line  of  strategy  has  recently  been 
developed.  It  takes  the  small  town  or  the  village  as 
its  point  of  departure  and  regards  this  as  the  focal 
point  of  a  community  compounded  of  town  and  coun- 
try. The  towns  of  small  size,  that  have  no  manufac- 
turing or  other  self-supporting  activities,  are  to-day  de- 
pendent for  their  prosperity  upon  the  business  created 
by  the  country  demand  for  supplies  of  all  sorts  and  for 
local  marketing  facilities.  Since  the  rural  mail  serv- 
ice, the  improved  economics  of  the  farms,  the  mail  or- 
der house  and  the  automobile  have  freed  the  farmers 
from  their  old  time  dependence  upon  the  local  town,  it 
becomes  necessary  for  the  towns  as  a  measure  of  self- 
preservation  to  make  overtures  to  the  country  people  in 
the  hope  of  establishing  new  and  mutually  beneficial 
relations  between  them  and  the  towns.  In  the  pro- 
posed interchange  of  benefits  the  towns  can  offer,  if 
they  will,  a  modernized  mercantile  service,  which  will 
at  once  exclude  the  mail  order  house  from  the  com- 
munity. It  can  of¥er  in  many  cases  the  readiest  and 
best  solution  of  the  problem  of  giving  country  boys 
and  girls  adequate  educational  opportunities,  to  which 
end  it  needs  merely  to  adapt  the  work  of  the  town 
school  more  fully  to  the  needs  of  country  pupils,  and 
to  secure  the  inclusion  of  the  entire  community  area 
in  the  school  district  —  at  least  for  high  school  pur- 
poses. The  town  can  also  afford  social,  recreational, 
and  religious  opportunities  to  supplement  the  more 
strictly'  local  or  neighbourhood  opportunities  now  en- 
joyed by  rural  dwellers.     Many  special  favours  could 


298       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

be  extended  by  the  town  to  its  rural  constituency  once 
the  community  limits  have  been  determined,  which  is 
obviously  the  first  step.  A  rational  and  generous  zone 
system  of  truck  and  jitney  fees,  a  physician's  fee  scale 
which  should  distribute  the  expense  of  medical  attend- 
ance somewhat  more  equitably  between  town  and  coun- 
try dwellers,  a  plan  of  delivering  groceries,  fresh 
meats,  etc.,  to  farm  customers  at  moderate  expense,  and 
a  freight  transportation  service  placed  at  the  farmers' 
call  are  some  of  the  obvious  means  of  serving  the  rural 
needs.  A  number  of  small  towns  have  already  re- 
sponded to  the  suggestion,  and  have  initiated  plans  for 
town  and  country  co-operation  which  have  the  promise 
of  excellent  results  for  both. 

The  wheat  growing  communities;  how  can  they 
have  a  social  life?  The  least  hopeful  of  the  agricul- 
tural communities  from  the  social  aspect  are  those 
which  depend  upon  large  scale  wheat  growing.  As 
was  pointed  out  in  Chapter  XVIII  above,  the  profits 
of  wheat  growing  increase  with  the  size  of  the  farms 
devoted  to  it,  up  to  a  point  not  easily  passed.  The  re- 
sult has  been  the  progressive  elimination  of  the  small 
farmer  or  homesteader,  the  joining  of  field  to  field, 
under  the  same  management,  until  community  life  as 
such  has  in  many  places  disappeared.  In  some  sec- 
tions school  houses,  churches,  and  other  evidences  of  a 
former  social  prosperity  are  abandoned  and  decaying 
in  the  midst  of  continuous  wheat  fields.  The  owners 
of  the  great  wheat  farms  often  live  in  the  larger  towns, 
leaving  hired  men  or  "  renters  "  on  the  farms.     These 


Social  and  Political  Change  299 

men  and  their  families  have  no  schools,  churches,  or 
clubs  at  convenient  distances,  and  arc  compelled  to 
pass  their  days  in  a  dreary  round  of  unrelieved  toil. 

It  is  a  serious  question  what  the  future  has  in  store 
for  the  wheat  belt  populations.  If  all  the  power  used 
on  these  farms  were  machine  power,  then  the  culti- 
vators as  well  as  the  owners  could  perhaps  live  in  the 
towns,  using  the  auto  for  rapid  transit  to  and  from 
the  home  and  farm.  But  as  yet  much  of  the  power 
used  is  supplied  by  horses  or  mules  which  require  at- 
tention early  and  late  and  winter  as  well  as  summer. 
The  breaking  up  of  the  large  holdings  is  in  some  sec- 
tions not  to  be  expected  for  many  years.  In  some 
cases  the  wheat  lands  will  probably  be  degraded  into 
pasture  lands  as  their  soils  deteriorate.  In  others  the 
natural  remedy,  a  permanent  agriculture  of  more  in- 
tensive character,  will  apply. 

The  large  towns.  Life  in  the  larger  towns  and 
cities  of  the  Northwest  is  undergoing  rapid  develop- 
ment due  primarily  to  a  splendid  period  of  growth 
which  has  brought,  with  increased  wealth,  a  multitude 
of  new  social  and  economic  problems.  The  solution 
of  these  has  sometimes  proved  too  difficult  for  the  peo- 
ple acting  under  their  democratic  city  charters.  In 
such  cases  the  population  has  been  factionalized  and 
social  contfitions  are  consequently  bad. 

Most  frequently  the  causes  of  disruption  have  been 
the  liquor  question  and  corporation  control  of  utilities. 
Within  the  past  two  years  all  three  of  the  Northw^est- 
ern  states  have  adopted  state  prohibition  laws,  which 


300      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

have  resulted  in  eliminating  from  towns  the  old  prob- 
lem of  regulating  or  prohibiting  the  sale  of  liquor. 
And  the  movement  toward  municipalizing  water,  light 
and  power  has  now  become  so  strong,  even  in  towns  of 
moderate  size,  that  a  democratic  solution  of  the  gen- 
eral problems  seems  to  be  assured. 

There  is  as  much  difference  in  spirit  between  any 
two  of  our  larger  cities  as  there  is  between  two  of  the 
Atlantic  cities,  say.  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  In 
our  new  cities,  moreover,  it  is  sometimes  easy  to  see 
how  the  local  spirit  was  created.  Usually  it  is  ascrib- 
able  either  to  a  peculiar  set  of  conditions  or  to  a  group 
of  men.  Some  cities  appear  short-sighted  in  planning, 
irresolute,  or  incompetent  in  carrying  out  schemes  of 
social,  commercial  or  industrial  development.  Inquiry 
usually  ascertains  the  cause  to  lie  in  a  narrow  individu- 
alism which  has  characterized  its  "  leading  citizen " 
class.  Another  is  overbold,  confident,  generous  to 
rashness,  speculative,  characteristics  which  once  more 
reflect  qualities  inherent  in  its  leadership.  Sometimes 
the  mixed  character  of  the  population  militates  against 
unity  of  action  under  even  the  wisest  leadership.  Al- 
though the  populations  of  Northwestern  cities  are  less 
complex  than  are  those  of  Eastern  and  Middle  Western 
cities,  nevertheless  one  finds  everywhere  the  deep  social 
rift  between  the  "  masses  "  and  the  "  classes  "  which 
constitutes  the  special  problem  of  American  democracy. 

Geographical  problems.  The  geography  of  each 
of  the  three  states  of  this  group  has  had  an  unfortu- 
nate effect  on  the  sentiment  of  unity.     Oregon  and 


Social  and  Political  Change  301 

Washington  are  divided  by  the  Cascade  Mountains 
into  western  and  eastern  sections,  while  Idaho  is  di- 
vided by  an  east  and  west  Hne.  The  eastern  sections 
of  Oregon  and  Washington  differ  from  the  western 
in  soil,  climate,  productions,  and  largely  in  the  con- 
ditions of  life  of  their  populations.  Ranching,  wheat 
raising,  and  mining  are  the  three  chief  interests 
of  the  inland  country;  the  coast  country  has  most 
of  the  commercial  cities,  lumber  and  other  manufac- 
tures, fisheries,  and  general  farming  which  is  becoming 
steadily  more  specialized.  The  inland  population 
spreads  thinly  over  a  vast  area  with  few  towns,  mostly 
small;  in  the  west  the  towns  have  more  people  than 
the  country.  Portland  has  about  one-third  of  the  total 
population  of  Oregon.  Seattle,  Tacoma,  and  Everett 
on  Puget  Sound  aggregate  about  as  large  a  proportion 
of  the  people  of  Washington. 

In  earlier  times,  before  the  admission  of  Washington 
and  Idaho  territories  into  the  Union,  schemes  for  the 
division  and  rearrangement  of  these  territories  were 
perennial.  At  present  there  is  new  state  activity  only 
in  Idaho,  w-here  during  the  recent  legislative  session 
north  and  south  clashed  over  questions  relating  to  the 
removal  of  the  State  University  to  Boise  in  the  south 
from  Moscow  in  the  north  with  the  result  that  a  plan 
of  division  was  proposed.  What  the  outcome  will  be 
is  problematical. 

In  Oregon  and  Washington  the  eastern  and  western 
sections  are  usually  able  to  compose  their  differences 
amicably.     The    west    is   proud    of    the   development 


302      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

which  is  going  on  east  of  the  Cascades,  of  the  enormous 
crops  of  wheat  which  swell  the  commerce  of  the  port 
cities,  of  the  wealth  represented  by  millions  of  cattle, 
sheep  and  horses,  all  of  which  serves  to  support  state 
government  and  activities.  The  east,  while  a  little  con- 
temptuous of  the  more  conservative  west,  respects  it 
nevertheless  as  both  the  more  populous  and  more  de- 
veloped region.  Particularly  do  the  easterners  show 
consideration  for  the  cities  which  are  the  commercial 
entrepots  of  these  states.  More  or  less  trading  goes 
forward  at  legislative  sessions.  The  east  —  like  all 
newer  sections  —  feels  itself  badly  treated  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  state  institutions,  most  of  which  are  located 
in  the  west,  and  various  attempts  have  been  made  with 
only  partial  success  to  balance  the  respective  interests 
of  the  sections.  On  the  whole,  serious  misunderstand- 
ings have  generally  been  evaded. 

A  great  point  in  the  mitigation  of  sectional  strife 
has  been  the  fact  that  lines  of  communication  cut  across 
these  states  from  east  to  west.  The  main  railways 
either  cross  the  Cascade  Mountains  or  follow  the  line 
of  the  Columbia  to  tide-water.  Feeders  extend  inland 
from  these  main  lines.  The  Eastern  Oregon  town  of 
Bend,  on  the  Des  Chutes,  almost  directly  east  of  the 
Willamette  Valley  town  of  Eugene,  is  now  within  a 
few  hours  of  Portland  and  her  people  feel  as  closely 
bound  to  their  sea-port  as  do  the  residents  of  Eugene. 
Thus  the  social  and  economic  influence  of  commerce  is 
overcoming  momentous  natural  forces  in  producing  a 
genuine  commonwealth  sentiment  in  these  states. 


Social  a?id  Political  Change  303 

Radicalism  in  the  Northwest.  The  Oregon  Sys- 
tem. Much  has  been  said  and  written  about  the  ab- 
normal and  foolish  radicalism  of  the  Northwest,  par- 
ticularly Oregon.  The  basis  of  Oregon's  reputation  in 
that  regard  is  found  in  her  adoption  of  the  so-called 
"  Oregon  System  "  of  direct  legislation  —  the  Initia- 
tive and  the  Referendum  —  together  with  other  de- 
vices like  the  recall  and  direct  election  of  United  States 
senators  by  a  provision  in  the  primary  election  law. 
The  fact  is  that  this  legislation  is  almost  wholly  ascrib- 
able  to  influences  running  back  twenty-five  years  to 
the  Populist  agitation,  and  to  a  leadership  which  the 
Populist  movement  evoked.  It  simply  happened  that, 
while  in  other  states  the  passing  of  Populism  left  no 
definite  institutional  results,  in  Oregon  owing  mainly 
to  the  organizing  efforts  of  one  man,  Mr.  W.  S.  U'Ren, 
the  direct  legislation  features  of  the  propaganda  were 
brought  very  cleverly  before  the  people  at  a  time 
when  disgust  with  representative  government  was  ex- 
treme and  were  adopted.  The  rest  was  easy,  par- 
ticularly since  Mr.  U'Ren's  "  People's  Power  League  " 
maintained  an  effective  organization  for  promoting  his 
ideas. 

In  view  of  the  adoption  of  initiative  and  referendum 
amendments  in  most  of  the  Western  states,  since  Ore- 
gon blazed  the  way,  it  can  hardly  be  maintained  that  the 
radicalism  of  the  Oregon  people  was  peculiar.  Ore- 
gonians,  and  in  fact  Northwesterners  generally,  are 
better  described  as  progressive  than  as  radical.  The 
same  men  who  gained  an  almost  unique  popularity  as 


304       A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

leaders  in  securing  this  progressive  legislation  have 
gone  down  to  defeat  in  their  attempts  to  pass,  by  initia- 
tive, legislation  like  the  single  tax  which  the  people  re- 
gard as  unjust.  Mr.  U'Ren  himself,  as  candidate  for 
governor  in  Oregon  in  1914,  was  badly  beaten.  The 
people  honour  him  as  father  of  the  Oregon  system: 
they  assign  him  very  unusual  gifts  as  a  political  me- 
chanician ;  but  beinof  unconvinced  of  the  soundness  of 
his  statesmanship  they  refuse  to  follow  him  in  matters 
of  general  state  policy.  That  fact  argues  strongly 
against  the  charge  that  the  people  are  unduly  radical  or 
easily  stampeded. 

Equal  suffrage.  The  Northwestern  states  have 
adopted  equal  suffrage  amendments  to  their  constitu- 
tions. This  is  the  result  of  a  campaign  covering  half 
a  century  In  which  the  leading  protagonist  of 
"  women's  rights  "  w^as  a  remarkable  woman  of  fron- 
tier type  named  Abigail  Scott  Duniway.  Mrs.  Duni- 
way  spent  the  best  years  of  a  long  and  intensely  active 
life  carrying  the  message  of  equality  between  the  sexes 
into  every  nook  and  cranny  of  these  states.  She  lived 
to  see  the  fruition  of  her  work. 

Prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic.  As  stated  above, 
all  of  these  states  have  laws  prohibiting  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  for  beverage  purposes  of  alcoholic 
liquors.  State  prohibition  sentiment  was  a  gradual 
development.  For  a  number  of  years  under  local 
option  laws  numbers  of  towns  and  localities  became 
habituated  to  the  saloon-less  or  "  dry "  condition. 
They  saw  the  arguments  of  the  opposition  disproved, 


Social  and  Political  Change  305 

their  predictions  of  economic  ruin  confounded  by  the 
fact  of  a  new  prosperity.  For  a  long  time  the  eco- 
nomic argument  that  it  would  "  hurt  the  town  "  pre- 
vented the  business  class  from  throwing  their  in- 
fluence heartily  for  reform.  But  when  their  fears 
were  dispelled  by  the  successful  experience  of  towns 
here  and  there,  a  tremendous  new  force  was  enlisted 
and  progress  toward  universal  prohibition  became  easy 
and  rapid.  It  is  notable  that  while  the  earlier  argu- 
ments for  the  abolition  of  the  liquor  traffic  were  al- 
most wholly  ethical  or  moral,  the  arguments  used  in 
the  final  successful  campaigns  were  generally  economic 
and  social. 

Independent  voting.  In  the  days  of  extreme 
party  domination  it  used  to  be  held  by  sociologists  that 
a  marked  tendency  among  the  people  of  a  state  to  in- 
dependence in  voting  was  a  sign  of  exceptional  intelli- 
gence. By  that  test  the  people  of  the  Northwest  would 
at  once  take  front  rank.  Their  voting,  for  many 
years,  has  been  characterized  by  nothing  so  much  as  a 
determination  to  be  irregular.  In  Oregon,  for  ex- 
ample, where  the  Republicans  have  had  a  clear  and 
large  majority,  nominally,  since  reconstruction  days, 
the  people  in  the  past  sixteen  years  have  generally 
chosen  a  Democratic  governor.  They  are  now  repre- 
sented in  the  United  States  Senate  by  two  Democrats,^ 
while  their  house  members  are  all  Republican.  In 
191 2   the  presidential   primary  gave   the   Republican 

1  Since  the  above  was  written  death  has  removed  one  of  these, 
his  place  being  filled  by  a  Republican. 


3o6      A  History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

nomination  to  Roosevelt  and  the  election  resulted  in 
the  choice  of  Wilson  electors.  In  1916,  Washington 
and  Idaho  both  gave  their  electoral  votes  to  Wilson, 
while  Oregon  by  a  small  majority  gave  hers  to 
Hughes. 

The  problems  of  direct  legislation.  One  of  the 
important  problems  of  our  new  democracy  is  to  ascer- 
tain the  limits  within  which  the  direct  expression  of 
the  popular  will,  in  an  election,  is  efficient  as  a  political 
remedy.  We  have  a  new  freedom  and  the  question  is 
how  to  use  it  most  wisely.  Oregon's  experience  shows 
that  the  initiative  and  referendum  do  not  constitute  a 
panacea  for  all  political  or  social  ills.  For  one  thing, 
the  number  of  measures  presented  to  the  people,  on  an 
enormously  long  ballot,  is  sometimes  so  great  that  no 
true  expression  of  the  people's  will  can  be  hoped  for. 
Methods  of  securing  a  shorter  ballot  have  been  dis- 
cussed but  without  much  result. 

Conference  and  conciliation  needed.  It  is  not 
commonly  recognized  that  under  the  direct  legislation 
system  there  is  much  room  for  the  oppression  of 
minorities.  Voting,  after  all,  may  be  merely  the 
trench  warfare  of  politics.  Somewhere  in  the  system 
provision  should  be  made  for  conference  and  concilia- 
tion, so  that  measures,  when  they  appear  on  the  ballot, 
may  represent,  at  best,  the  aspirations  of  the  most 
thoughtful  minds  among  all  sections  of  the  population, 
at  worst  a  tolerable  compromise  of  their  conflicting 
opinions.  For  this  class  and  that  class,  without 
mutual  consultation,  to  load  the  ballot  with  measures 


Social  and  Political  Change  307 

sharply  inimical  to  one  another's  interests  will  in  the 
long  run  work  more  havoc  to  our  ideals  of  social  unity 
than  was  wrought  by  the  old  time  machine-controlled 
convention  and  legislature,  which  even  at  the  worst 
took  some  account  of  the  sentiments  of  all  classes. 

The  remedy  for  the  evil  here  pointed  out  lies  in  a 
new  institution  which  is  no  more  a  part  of  the  state 
constitution  than  was  the  political  convention,  namely, 
the  conference.  To  an  increasing  extent,  the  people 
of  these  states  are  habituating  themselves  to  the  idea 
that  all  wisdom  does  not  reside  in  a  class  dominated  by 
a  single  interest.  They  begin  to  recognize  that  since 
legislation  affects  all  interests,  the  proposing  of  legisla- 
tion like  the  nomination  of  candidates  for  office  is  a 
matter  on  which  all  interests  should  be  consulted. 

In  Oregon  the  state  University  has  for  a  number  of 
years  held  an  annual  "  Commonwealth  Conference  " 
for  the  discussion  of  questions  on  which  legislation 
would  probably  be  formulated  later.  In  these  confer- 
ences all  interests  have  been  represented  and  the  views 
of  all  have  been  frankly  stated.  The  result  has  been 
a  mitigation  of  animosities  and  the  acceptance  of  the 
commonwealth  spirit  as  opposed  to  a  class  or  section 
spirit,  which  means  a  desire  to  do  justice.  Other  con- 
ferences, likewise,  have  been  held,  some  at  other  edu- 
cational institutions,  some  at  the  state  capitals,  and 
some  elsewhere.  The  people  are  getting  the  conference 
habit,  which,  to  the  writer's  mind,  is  the  best  guarantee 
that  the  new  democracy  will  succeed,  and  that  it  will 
have  a  tremendous  influence  in  socializing  our  people. 


INDEX 


Abernethy,  George,  visited  by 
Lieutenant    Wilkes,    139. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  memoirs 
cited,  89  n. ;  Ontario  in- 
cident, 90-1 ;  Astoria,  92; 
Spanish  treaty,  93-4;  in- 
structions to  R.  Rush, 
10 1-2. 

Agriculture,  progress  of,  246- 
268. 

AlarQon,  Spanish  explorer,  5. 

Alaska,  discovered  by  Bering 
and  Tchirikoff,  10;  ex- 
plored by  Cuadra,  12;  by 
Cook,  14;  by  Vancouver, 
19;  Russian  trade  of,  69; 
Astor's  trade  to,  6g,  yy ; 
Hudson  Bay  Company 
trade  to,  in  flour,  85 ; 
treaties  concerning,  94-5 ; 
recent  trade  development 
of,  28^288. 

Albatross,  Ship,  ^7.    See  Hunt. 

Albion,  New.  See  Drake, 
Cook. 

Allegheny  Mountains,  crossing 
of  by  pioneers,  39;  com- 
munication with  sea- 
board across,  40. 

American  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions sends  Dr.  Parker 
to  Oregon,  I  ig.  See  Mis- 
sions. 

American  Fur  Company, 
founded  by  Astor,  68. 


American  Philosophical  Soci- 
ety, Jefferson's  connec- 
tion with,  and  Michaux, 
36. 

Anson,  George,  his  voyage  in 
the  Pacific,  8. 

Applegate,  Jesse,  "  A  Day  with 
the  Cow-Column,"  149- 
154;  remakes  the  provi- 
sional government  in 
1845,  165-6;  draws  Hud- 
son Bay  Company  into 
it,  172 ;  settles  in  Ump- 
qua  Valley,  214. 

Arctic  Ocean  visited.  See 
Hearne,  Mackenzie. 

Ashburton,  Lord,  negotiates 
with  Webster,  173- 
175- 

Ashley,  Gen.  William  H.,  or- 
ganizes Rocky  Mountain 
Fur  Company,  107;  sells 
to  Smith,  Jackson  &  Sub- 
lette, 108. 

Astor,  John  Jacob,  plans  west- 
ern fur  trade,  68;  sends 
Tonquin  to  Columbia,  69; 
sends  overland  party,  71 ; 
sends  the  Beaver,  y^i  > 
partners  sell  Astoria,  77; 
his  interest  in  its  restora- 
tion, 89,  90. 

Astoria,  founded  by  Astor's 
party,  71 ;  sold  to  North- 
west Company,  yy ;  cap- 
tured  by   ship   Raccoon, 


309 


3IO 


Index 


78;    restored,    92;    first 
custom  house  at,  282. 

Babcock,  Dr.  Ira  L.,  goes  to 
Dalles  Mission,   137. 

Bagley,  C.  B.,  private  library 
utilized,  212  n. 

Bagot,  Charles,  British  min- 
ister protests  plan  to 
send  Ontario  to  Colum- 
bia, 90-91. 

Baker,  Dr.  D.  S.,  builds  Walla 
Walla  and  Columbia 
River  Railway,  229  n. 

Baker,  city  in  Eastern  Oregon, 
railroad  to,  242. 

Balboa,  discovers  Pacific 
Ocean,  i. 

Ball,  John,  with  Wyeth,  first 
school  master  in  Oregon, 
86  n. 

Beers,  Alanson,  and  family, 
119. 

Bellingham  Bay,  proximity  of 
coal  mines  to,  210. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  on  Oregon 
Question,  loi ;  writes  let- 
ter to  Oregon  settlers, 
187. 

Bering,  Vitus,  discoveries  of, 
9-10. 

Biddlc,    Captain,   ship    Ontario 
ordered  to  Columbia,  90, 
91. 
Nicholas,    edits    journal    of 
Lewis  and  Clark,  61  n. 

Blackfoot  Indians,  attitude  to- 
ward Hunt's  party,  72 ; 
American  traders,  107. 

Blanchet,  Reverend  Father, 
mission  of,  in  Willam- 
ette Valley,  125. 

Boise,  Fort,  I2I. 


Valley,  or  Basin,  mining  in, 

224;   agriculture  of,  229. 
Bonneville,  Captain,  trades  and 

explores  west  of  Rockies, 

109-110. 
Boone,  Daniel,  interviewed  by 

Bradbury,  y2  n. 
Brewer,    missionary    assistant, 

137- 

British  Columbia,  gold  rush  to, 
222. 

Broughton,  Lieutenant,  ex- 
plores   Columbia    River, 

23- 

Bryant,  William  CuUen,  pop- 
ularizes the  name  "  Ore- 
gon "  through  Thana- 
topsis,  96. 

Buchanan,  James,  Secretary  of 
State,  writes  to  Oregon 
people,  186-7 ;  negotiates 
with    Pakenham,    180-81. 

Burnett,  Peter  H.,  helps  to 
raise  emigrating  com- 
pany, 147  ;  letters  to  New 
York  Herald,  147; 
elected  captain,  148;  re- 
signs, 148;  goes  to  Cali- 
fornia, 203, 

Cabrillo,  Spanish  explorer,  dis- 
covers San  Diego  Bay, 
6. 

Calhoun,  John  C,  his  argument 
in  Oregon  negotiation, 
181 ;  opposes  Territorial 
Bill  for  Oregon,  187. 

California,  origin  of  name,  S ; 
discovery,  6;  exploration 
of  coast,  7;  Drake  in,  6; 
Vizcaino's  exploration  of, 
7;  planting  of  missions 
and    presidios,     10,    1 1 ; 


Index 


311 


northern        explorations 
from,    II,    12;    in    1846, 
200;   conquest,  201;  gold 
discovery,  201 ;  historical 
results  of,  205-206;  rail- 
way to,  238-240;  to  Ore- 
gon from,  241. 
Gulf,  explored,  5. 
Peninsula,       discovery,      at- 
tempted colony,  5 ;   mis- 
sions in,  10. 
Trail,  206. 

Canal,  Erie,  106. 
Interoceanic,  first  suggestion 
of,  3- 

Canton  (Chinese  city),  be- 
comes market  for  North- 
vvfcst  furs,  16. 

Cape,  East,  named  by  Cook,  14. 
Prince   of  Wales,   named  by 
Cook,  14. 

Carver,  Captain  Jonathan,  gave 
name    "  Oregon,"    2i7- 

Cascade  Mountains,  pierced  by 
Columbia  River,  2ig. 

Cascades  of  the  Columbia, 
passed  by  Lewis  and 
Clark,  58;  obstruction  to 
navigation,  225. 

Catholics,  124;  missions,  125; 
ladder,  125. 

Cattle  Company,  Willamette, 
128-130. 

Cayuse  Indians.  See  Whitman 
massacre. 

Cedros  Island,  reached  by  Ul- 
loa,  5. 

Celilo,  or  Great  Falls  of  the 
Columbia,  58 ;  obstructs 
navigation,  225. 

Central  Pacific  Railway,  238. 

Champoeg,  visited  by  Wilkes, 
138;   settlers'  convention 


at,   to   adopt   provisional 
government,  161. 

China,  trade  with  in  furs,  be- 
gun, 15-16;  from  U.  S. 
opened,  22;  Astor's  proj- 
ect, 69;  Beaver  sails  for, 
77- 

Chinese  labourers  build  Central 
Pacific  Railway,  240. 

Chinook  Indians,  trade  with 
Lewis  and  Clark,  60. 

Chittenden,  Captain  H.  M.,  his- 
tory of  the  fur  trade, 
106. 

Clark,  George  Rogers,  Jeffer- 
son's letter  to,  about  an 
exploration  of  the  West, 
34- 

Clark,  John,  fur  trader  of  As- 
tor  party,  76. 

Clark,    Miss    ,    missionary 

teacher,     goes     to     Nes- 
qually  Mission,  137. 

Clark,  Captain  William,  se- 
lected as  associate  by 
Lewis,  48;  early  career, 
48 ;  receives  Nez  Perces 
delegation  at  St.  Louis, 
116;  see  Lewis  and 
Clark's  expedition.  Chap. 
IV. 

Clark's  Fork,  of  Columbia,  57 ; 
D.  Thompson  builds  fort 
on,  74;  Astor's  men  on, 
76,  reached  by  steamboat, 
225. 

Clatsop  County,  170. 
Fort,  winter  camp  of  Lewis 

and  Clark,  59. 
Indians  of  Lower  Columbia, 
90. 

Clayoquot  Harbour,  ship  Ton- 
quin  destroyed  irv,  71. 


312 


Index 


Clearwater  River,  branch  of 
Snake  River,  Lewis  and 
Clark  embark  at,  58; 
Lapwai  Mission  on,  122; 
gold  mining  on,  222;  ag- 
riculture of,  229. 

CcEur  d'Alene  Prairie,  viewed 
by  General  Stevens,  221. 

Colleges  in  the  Northwest,  208 
n. 

Columbia,  Boston  ship  on 
Northwest   Coast,  22-24. 

Columbia  River,  first  seen  by 
Heceta,  12;  name  "Ore- 
gon "  applied  to,  96 ;  en- 
tered and  named  by  Gray, 
23 ;  entered  by  Brough- 
ton  for  Vancouver,  23-4; 
explored  by  Lewis  and 
Clark,  57-61 ;  occupied  by 
Astor  party,  70-78;  con- 
trolled by  Northwest 
Company,  79;  by  Hud- 
son Bay  Company,  80  ff. ; 
American  traders  visit, 
107-113;  missions  planted 
on,  1 16-126;  navigation 
of,  225. 

Columbus,  Ohio,  Oregon  agita- 
tion at,  146. 

Colville,  mining  near,  222. 

Commerce,  growth  of  Industry 
and.   Chap.   XIX. 

Compact,  Government  by,  in 
Oregon,    162. 

Cone,  Reverend  W.  W.,  mis- 
sionary, 137. 

Constitutional  Convention,  in 
Oregon,  218. 

Cook,  Captain  James,  explores 
Northwest  Coast  en 
Third  expedition,  13-14; 
originates  Northwest  and 


China   fur   trade,    15-16. 
Inlet,   or    River,    in   Alaska, 

15- 

Coos  Bay,  settlements  begun  at, 
215;  coal  mining  at,  215; 
railway  to,  245. 

Coppermine  River,  explored  by 
Hearne,  12. 

Coronado,  5. 

Cortez,  Hernando,  explores  Pa- 
cific Coast,  4,  5. 

Coues,  Dr.  Elliott,  historian,  his 
muster  roll  of  the  Lewis 
and  Clark  party,  51  n. 

Council  Bluff,  named  by  Lewis 
and  Clark,  53. 

Cowlitz  River,  avenue  for  trade 
to  Puget  Sound,  80. 

iCox,  Ross,  "  Adventures,"  etc., 
78  n. 

Cuadra,  Bodega,  Spanish  nav- 
igator, explores  Puget 
Sound  waters,  with  Van- 
couver, 20. 

Gushing,  Caleb,  reports  on  Ore- 
gon to  Congress,  1839, 
134. 

Dakota,  South,  7c. 

Dalles  of  the  Columbia,  or 
Long  Narrows,  58. 

Darien,  12. 

DesChutes  River,  Wyeth  on, 
112;  railway  along,  244; 
water  power  of,  281. 

Dobbs,  Arthur,  eighteenth  cen- 
tury English  publicist, 
book  on  Hudson  Bay 
prophesies  British  expan- 
sion in  the  Pacific,  8; 
urges  finding  of  North- 
west Passage,  9. 

Donation  Land  Law,  253. 


Index 


313 


Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  intro- 
duces Oregon  Territory 
bill,  186;  Pacific  railway 
plans,  233. 

Drake,  Sir  Francis,  cruises  in 
the  Pacific,  1577-8,  6. 

DuBois  River,  Lewis  and  Clark 
camp  at,  51. 

Dunn,  John,  "  Oregon  Terri- 
tory "  quoted,  63  n. 

Dye,  Eva  Emery,  author  of 
"  The  Conquest,"  relating 
to  Lewis  and  Clark,  51 
n.  and  "  McLoughlin  and 
Old  Oregon,"  81  n. 

Edgecumbe,  Mt.,  discovered  by 
Cuadra,  12 ;  named  by- 
Cook,  14. 

Edwards,  P.  S.,  assistant  to 
Jason  Lee,  117;  with 
Willamette  Cattle  Com- 
pany,  130. 

Eells,  Reverend  Cashing,  mis- 
sionary of  the  A.  B.  C. 
F.  M.,  locates  in  Spokane 
country,  123. 

Elm  Grove  Mt.,  pioneers  start 
from,  1843,  147. 

Farnham,  Thomas  J.,  visits 
Oregon,  133;  writes  pop- 
ular treatise  on,   133. 

Ferelo,  Spanish  navigator  with 
Cabrillo,  6. 

Fisheries,  whale,  on  Northwest 
Coast,  create  interest  in 
Congress,  98;  Wyeth's 
salmon  fishing  project, 
112;  value  of  salmon 
pack,  276-277. 

Flathead       Indians,       mission 


planned    for    by   Metho- 
dists, 116. 

Florida,  Jefferson  tries  to  lump 
West  Florida  with  New 
Orleans,  42 ;  purchase  of 
Florida,  treaty  of  limits 
with  Spain,  93. 

Floyd,  Charles,  with  Lewis  and 
Clark,  dies  on  journey, 
53. 
John,  M.  C.  from  Virginia, 
begins  agitation  over 
Oregon  in  Congress, 
makes  report,  96;  speech 
on  Oregon  Territory 
Bill,  97-8. 

Franchere,  Gabriel,  clerk  of  Pa- 
cific Fur  Company,  his 
"  Narrative"  quoted,  71. 

Franciscans,  founded  Califor- 
nia missions,  10. 

Eraser,  Irwin,  British  trader 
and  explorer,  descends 
Eraser  River  to  Pacific, 
65-6. 

Fremont,  Captain  John  C,  in 
California,  1846,  200-201 ; 
was  perhaps  surveying 
railway  route  to  San 
Francisco  Bay,  235. 

Frost,  Reverend  J.  H.,  mission- 
ary, 137. 

Fuca,  Juan  de,  legend  of,  con- 
cerning the  strait,  13. 

Gallatin,  Albert,  negotiates  with 
Great  Britain,  104. 

Gama,  Vasco  da,  3. 

Genet,  French  minisiter  to 
U.  S.,  27. 

George,  Fort,  British  rechristen 
Astoria,  78. 

Grand   Ronde  Valley,  reached 


314 


Index 


by     Hunt's     party,     73; 
crossed  by  emigrants   in 
1843,  ISS;  settlement  of, 
227. 
Gray's  Harbour,  discovered  by 
Robert  Gray,  23 ;  salmon 
pack  of,  277. 
Gray,     Captain     Robert,     com- 
mands ship  Columbia  on 
voyage  to  China,  22 ;  dis- 
covers   Gray's    Harbour 
and  Columbia  River,  23. 
Gray,    William   H.,   missionary 
assistant     of     Whitman, 
121 ;    trip    east    and    re- 
turn, 123;  aids  in  provi- 
sional government  move- 
ment, 161  n. 
Great    Britain    sends    Commo- 
dore Anson   to   the    Pa- 
cific  in    1740,  8;    Arthur 
Dobbs  prophesies  British 
expansion    in    Pacific,    8, 
9 ;    dispatches    succession 
of  navigators,  9;  persists 
in  search  for  Northwest 
Passage,  9 ;  Cook  sent  to 
Northwest      Coast,      12; 
her  mercantile  explorers, 
16   ff. ;    Nootka    Conven- 
tion with   Spain,   18,   19; 
sends       Vancouver       to 
Northwest  Coast,  19-21 ; 
joins    issue    with    U.    S. 
over  Oregon,  90;  accepts 
joint    occupation    treaty, 
92-3;  offers  49th  parallel 
boundary,  185. 
Greeley,  Horace,  quoted,  167  n. 
Grenville,   Point,  Heceta  lands 
at,  II. 

Hall,    Fort,    built    by    Wyeth, 


hi;     emigrating     party, 
1843,  at,  154. 
Hanna,  James,  begins  fur  trade 
of  the  Northwest  Coast, 
17  n. 
Hearne,   Samuel,   explorer,   12, 

24. 
Pleceta,  Spanish  explorer,  lands 
at    Point    Grenville,    11; 
saw  mouth  of  Columbia, 
12. 
Helena  (Montana  town),  min- 
ing camp  supplied,  225. 
Henry-Thompson         Journals, 

cited,  78  n. 
Hines,  Reverend  Gustavus,  mis- 
sionary,      137;       makes 
Fourth  of  July  address, 
1843,  162. 
Hood     River    Valley,    famous 

fruit  area,  264. 
Hudson  Bay,  12;  port  at,  in 
Mackenzie's  plan,  26; 
York  Factory  on,  80. 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  char- 
tered, 1669,  9  n. ;  neglects 
exploring  function,  9;  its 
trade,  in  the  Northwest, 
Chap.  VI. 
Hunt,  Wilson  Price,  Astor's 
partner,  gathers  party 
for  overland  journey  to 
Columbia,  71-2;  arrives 
on  Columbia,  73 ;  sails  to 
Alaska  on  Beaver,  77  \ 
returns  to  Astoria,  and 
home,  78. 


Idaho,  mining  in,  222;  popula- 
tion and  wealth,  246; 
number  of  farms,  251 ; 
values  of  farm  property, 


Index 


315 


252-254;   sectionalism  in, 
301. 

Indian  affairs,  White  sub  agent 
for  Oregon,  140. 
War.  Cayuse,  causes  of  the 
Whitman  massacre,  191- 
2;  the  rescue  of  pris- 
oners, 192-3;  declaration 
of  war,  193 ;  effect 
on  Congress,  194-196; 
Rogue  River  War,  215- 
16;  other  wars,  216-218; 
effect  on  emigration  to 
Inland  Empire,  221-2. 

Indians,  Northwest,  trade  with 
Cook's  men,  15 ;  with 
Gray,  newly  found  In- 
dians best  customers,  23 
n. ;  character  of,  in 
Western  Oregon,  119;  in 
interior,  122;  response  to 
missionary  effort,  122-3. 
See  Fur  Trade,  Missions, 
and  Indian  Wars. 

Inland  Empire,  Chap.  XVI. 

Iowa,  emigrating  companies 
formed  in,  146. 

Irrigation,  practised  by  mis- 
sionaries, 124;  revolu- 
tionizes land  values,  265. 

Irving,  Washington,  "  Astoria  " 
referred  to,  78  n. ;  "  Ad- 
ventures of  Captain  Bon- 
neville," 109 ;  Isaac  Todd, 
ship  of  Northwest  Com- 
pany, arrives  in  Colum- 
bia, 79;  brings  first  cat- 
tle, 83. 

Jackson,  President,  sends  Slo- 
cum  to  Pacific  Coast,  127. 
Davis,  fur  trader,  107,  108. 
John     R.,     settles     between 


Cowlitz  and  Puget 
Sound,    171. 

Jackson  Creek,  gold  discovered 
on,  214. 

Jacksonville,  founded  in  1851. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  sources  of 
his  interest  in  the  west, 
31 ;  what  he  knew  of 
western  geography  in 
1782,  31-33;  scientific  in- 
terest, the  "  big  bones," 
33-4  and  n. ;  connection 
with  Ledyard,  35-6 ;  with 
Michaux,  36-7 ;  interest 
in  Mississippi,  42;  the 
special  message  suggest- 
ing a  transcontinental 
exploration,  42-44;  polit- 
ical motives,  44-46;  his 
instructions  to  Lewis, 
49-50. 

John,  Chief,  217. 

John  Day's  River,  gold  mining 
on,  222 ;  packing  to,  224. 

Johnson,  Elvira,  missionary, 
119  n. 

Joint-occupation,  treaty  of,  92. 

Kamiah,  mission  station,  123  n. 

Kamiakin,  Indian  chief,  217. 

Kamtschatka,  35. 

Kamloops,  Fort  of  Hudson 
Bay  Company  on  Eraser 
River,  82. 

Kansas  River,  traders  from, 
seen  by  Lewis  and  Clark, 
52. 

Kelley,  Hall  J.,  agitates  Ore- 
gon question  in  Boston, 
no  n. ;  influences  Wyeth, 
no. 

Kendrick,  Captain  John,  22. 

Kenton,  Simon,  145. 


3i6 


Index 


Kentucky,  early  settlement  of, 

39. 
Kootenai,    fur  trading   station, 
of   Northwest   Company, 
74;  mining  region,  222. 

La  Charette,  Boone's  home,  As- 
tor  party  stop  at,  72  n. 

Lady  Washington,  Gray's  ship, 
22. 

La  Grande,  228. 

Lane,  General  Joseph,  governor 
of  Oregon  Territory, 
196 ;  sketch,  197  n. ;  in 
Congress,  Washington 
Territory  Bill,  212; 
prominent  in  Rogue 
River  War,  216. 

Langley,  H.  B.  Fort,  82. 

Lapwai,  mission  on  Clearwater, 
122.     See  Missions. 

Ledyard,  John,  confers  with 
Jefferson  in  Paris,  35; 
plans  of  exploration,  35- 
36;  returns  from  Siberia, 

Lee,  Reverend  Daniel,  mission- 
ary, assistant  of  Jason 
Lee,  117;  writes  "The 
First  Ten  Years  of 
Oregon,"  with  J.  H, 
Frost,  117  n. 
Reverend  Jason,  founds  Wil- 
lamette Alission,  117;  re- 
turns to  the  East,  138; 
public  activity  in  East, 
132-134;  letter  to  Repre- 
sentative Cushing  about 
Oregon,  134;  brings  back 
a  colonizing  party,  137-8. 

tjcschi,  Chief,  217. 

Leslie,  Reverend  Daniel,  119. 

Lewis,     Captain     Meriwether, 


leader  of  Lewis  and 
Clark  expedition.  Chap. 
IV;  report  on  fur  trade 
of  the  West,  62-65. 

Linn,  Dr.  Lewis  F.,  senator 
from  Missouri,  Oregon, 
report  of,  and  bill,  131-2 ; 
presents  petition  from 
Oregon  settlers,  133; 
Linn  bill  passes  Senate, 
146. 

Livingston,  Robert  R-,  minister 
to  France,  instructed  by 
Jefferson  to  purchase 
Western  Florida  and 
New  Orleans,  42. 

Lolo  Trail,  Lewis  and  Clark 
follow,  58. 

Lovejoy,  A.  L.,  companion  of 
Whitman  on  winter  ride, 
189. 

Louisiana,  conditions  in  Lower, 
41-42  ;  transfer  of  Upper 
Louisiana  witnessed  by 
Captain  Lewis,  51. 

Lumbering  on  Puget  Sound, 
advantages  for,  209-10 ; 
in  Northwest,  270-272 ; 
competition  with  South, 
273-74- 


Mackenzie,  Sir  Alexander,  ex- 
plores Mackenzie  River, 
also  a  route  to  the  Pa- 
cific, 24-26;  his  plan  to 
consolidate  the  fur  trade 
of  North  America,  26- 
28;  views  on  the  terri- 
torial rights  of  Great 
Britain  in  North  Amer- 
ica, 28;  his  mistake  in 
supposing     "  Tacoutchee 


Index 


317 


Tesse "   to   be    Columbia 
River,  27  n. 

Malheur  River,  169. 

May  Dacre,  Wyeth's  ship,  112. 

Mayflower  Compact,  162-3. 

Mandan,  villages,  camp  of 
Lewis  and  Clark  at,  S4-5. 

Manufactures  (or  Industry), 
commerce  and,  Chap. 
XIX. 

McCarver,  M.  M.,  163;  quoted, 
167. 

McLoughlin,  Dr.  John,  aban- 
dons Fort  George,  builds 
Fort  Vancouver,  80-1 ; 
his  management  of  the 
fur  trade  of  Hudson 
Bay  Company,  81-83 ; 
management  of  livestock 
business,  and  farming, 
83-4;  treatment  of  rival 
traders  at  Vancouver, 
case  of  Jedidiah  S. 
Smith,  108;  missionaries, 
120,  121 ;  encourages  for- 
mation of  cattle  com- 
pany, 130;  agrees  to  join 
the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment,  172. 

MTDougal,  D.,  P.  F.  Co.  part- 
ner, 76. 

Meares,  Captain  John,  N.  W. 
Coast  trader,  explores 
De  Fuca's  Strait,  17-18. 

Meek,  Joe,  first  sheriff  of  Ore- 
gon Provisional  Govern- 
ment, 162 ;  carries  news 
of  Whitman  massacre  to 
Washington,  194. 
Stephen  H.  L.,  misguides  the 
emigrants  of  1845.  169. 

Michaux,  Andre,  French  bota- 
nist, plans  to  explore  the 


West,  Jefferson's  instruc- 
tions to,  36-7. 

Missions,  in  California,  lO-ii; 
in  Middle  West,  112-115; 
beginnings  of  in  Oregon, 
Methodists,  116-117; 

progress  of,  1 18-1 19;  A. 
B.  C.  F,  M.,  Oregon  mis- 
sions of,  1 19-123;  Cath- 
olic missions  in  N.  W., 
124-126. 

Mississippi  River,  basis  of 
prosperity  of  the  West, 
39-41 ;  Spaniards  close 
the  Mississippi,  41-2; 
Jefferson's  determination 
to  open  the  river,  42 ; 
Lewis  and  Clark  explo- 
ration related  on  Missis- 
sippi, 43-46. 

Missouri  River,  Jefferson's 
knowledge  of,  in  1782, 
31-3 ;  route  to  Pacific  by, 
2(>-2>7 ;  country  of  to  be 
protected,  45 ;  explora- 
tion of,  by  Lewis  and 
Clark,  Chap.  IV;  fur 
trade  of,  64,  67,  68,  72; 
Ledyard's  plan  to  ex- 
plore, from  Nootka 
Sound,  35-36  and  36  n. 

Missouri,  state,  starting  point 
in  Oregon  emigration 
movement,   147. 

M'Kenzie,  Donald,  builds 
Walla  Walla  Fort,  79. 

Mofros,  Duflot  de,  visits  Ore- 
gon, 1841,  138. 

Moluccas,  or  Spice  Islands, 
goal  of  early  maritime 
discoveries,  3,  4. 

Monroe,  James,  helps  to  secure 
Louisiana    from    Napo- 


3i8 


Index 


leon  by  treaty,  42;  safe- 
guards Astoria  against 
British  claims  in  1814, 
88 ;  demands  restoration 
of  Astoria  in  1815,  89. 

Monterey  Harbour,  discovered 
and  explored,  7;  occu- 
pied, 11;  base  for  north- 
ern explorations,  11, 

Montreal,  Astor  secures  men 
from,  72. 

M'Tavish,  J.  G.,  fur  trader, 
brings  news  of  war  to 
the  Columbia,  76. 

Mullan,  Captain  John,  builds 
the  Mullan  road,  225. 


Napoleon,  secures  Louisiana 
from  Spain,  39. 

Nelson  River,  route  for  fur 
trade  to  Hudson  Bay,  26. 

Nesmith,  J.  W.,  with  1843  emi- 
gration, 148;  with  Vil- 
lard  at  completion  of  N. 
P.  R.  R.,  243. 

New  Orleans,  market  for 
trans-Allegheny  country, 
40;  Jefferson  tries  to 
buy,  42. 

Nez  Perces  Indians,  send  dele- 
gation to  St.  Louis,  us; 
mission  for,  122. 

Nicaragua  Lake,  discovered,  3 ; 
idea  of  canal  from,  3. 

Nootka,  convention,  19 ;  figures 
in  Oregon  negotiation, 
102-3. 
Sound,  discovered  by  Perez, 
11;  rediscovered  by 
Cook,  13 ;  Indian  trade 
begun  at,  15 ;  Spaniards 
attempt  to  fortify,  18-19; 


Controversy  and  Con- 
vention, 19. 

Northwest  Company,  origin 
and  growth  of,  24;  sends 
Mackenzie  to  explore 
north  and  west,  24-26; 
ambitious  plans  of  trade, 
26-8;  carries  trade  across 
Rockies,  65-67;  competes 
with  Astor  Company, 
73-4 ;  buys  Astoria,  77-8 ; 
unites  with  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  79-80. 

Northwest  Passage,  British  in- 
terest in,  9. 


Ogden,  Peter  Skeen,  Factor  of 
Hudson  Bay  Company, 
saves  captives  after 
Whitman  massacre,  193 
and  n. 

Ohio,  population  in  1800,  40; 
Oregon  meetings  in,  146. 

Ohio  Statesman,  source  of  in- 
formation for  Cincinnati 
Convention,  177. 

Okanogan,  Fort,  built  by  Astor 
Company,  74-5. 

Olympia,  beginnings  of,  171 ; 
progress  after  beginning 
of  California  gold  rush, 
209. 

Ontario,  ship,  ordered  to  Co- 
lumbia River,  90. 

Oregon  Historical  Society,  pub- 
lications of  cited,  96,  112, 
156,  16&-9,  176,   183,  190. 
name,    its    origin    found    in 
Carver's   Travels,   37-96. 
Provisional  Government, 

Chap.  XI,  157  ff. 
Question,    early    phases    of, 


Index 


319 


Chap.  VII,  88  ff. ;  settled, 
Chap.  XII,  173  flf. 
State,  agitation  for  state  gov- 
ernment,     adoption      of 
constitution,       admission 
into  the  Union,  218. 
Steam   Navigation  Company, 
helps  to  open  trade  with 
Inland   Empire,  223 ;  be- 
comes the  Oregon  Rail- 
way &  Navigation  Com- 
pany, 242. 
Territory,    created    by    Con- 
gress,    196;     proclaimed 
by  Governor  Lane,  197. 
Trail,    converted    into    Cali- 
fornia Trail,  206. 

Oregonian  and  Indian's  Advo- 
cate, 135-6  and  n. 

Oregonian,  The  Sunday,  of 
Portland,  reprints.  Lee 
and  Frost's  "  The  First 
Ten  Years  of  Oregon," 
cited,  117. 

Orient,  trade  with  from  Pa- 
cific Northwest,  Lewis's 
views  of,  62,  and  n. 


Pacific  Fur  Company.  See  As- 
tor  and  Columbia  River 
Fur  Trade. 

Palouse,  wheat  growing  area, 
south  of  Spokane  River. 
Described  by  General 
Stevens,  221. 

Panama  Canal,  affects  agricul- 
tural development  of  N. 
W.,  251,  252;  relation  to 
N.  W.  commerce,  274-5 ; 
especially,  289. 

Parker,  Dr.  Samuel,  missionary 
of  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  ex- 


plores the  Oregon  coun- 
try  as    a    mission    field, 
1 19-20. 
Peace  River,  ascended  by  Mac- 
kenzie, 25. 
Pend   d'Oreille,    Lake,    N.    W. 
Co.  fort  at,  74;   naviga- 
tion to,  225. 
Perez,    Juan,    explores    north- 
ward from  California  to 
Alaska,  11. 
Perkins,  Rev.  H.  K.  W.,  mis- 
sionary, 119. 
Pioneer  and  Democrat,   Puget 
Sound    newspaper,    used 
as  source,  212  n. 
Pitman,  Miss,  missionary,  119, 
Polk,  President  James  K.,  helps 
settle  the   Oregon   ques- 
tion, 185. 
Portland,  new  at  time  of  Cali- 
fornia gold  rush,  208;  re- 
lation to  Inland   Empire 
trade,  rapid  growth,  226. 
Powder  River,  mining  on,  222. 
Prevost,  J.  B.,  receives  Astoria 
from  British  in  1818,  92. 
Prickly  Pear  River,  mining  re- 
gion, 222. 
Puget    Sound,    Fort    Nesqually 
and    Methodist    Mission 
near,    137;    first    settlers 
on,    183;    posture   of   af- 
fairs  in    1848,  209;   lum- 
bering    begun,      209-10; 
discovery    of    coal,    210; 
settlers  demand  separate 
territorial       government, 
211-12;    fisheries    of,   the 
Salmon  pack,  276-7;  har- 
bours   of    impress    Lieu- 
tenant Wilkes,  284 ;  trade 
of,  285,  286. 


320 


Index 


Herald,      used      as      source, 
212  n. 

Quarterly  of  the  Oregon  His- 
torical Society,  see  Ore- 
gon Historical  Society 
publications. 

Raccoon,  British  warship,  takes 

Astoria,  78. 
Railways,  Age  of,  Chap,  XVH, 

pp.  230-245. 
River   of   the    West,   Jefferson 

hears  of  a  "  river  which 

flows    westwardly,"    33 ; 

Carver's,  35. 
Rogers,    Rev.    C.,    missionary, 

123. 

Rogue  River  Valley,  receives 
settlers,  213,  214. 

Roseburg,  Oregon,  home  of 
General  Joseph  Lane, 
214  n. 

Ross,  Alexander,  clerk  of  P. 
F.  Co.,  his  "  Fur  Hunters 
of  the  West"  quoted, 
75  n. 

Rush,  Richard,  negotiates  with 
Britain  on  Oregon  ques- 
tion, lOI  ff. 

Russia,  explorations  of  in 
Alaska,  by  Bering,  9 ; 
Bering  and  Tchirikoff, 
10;  Russian  fur  trade  be- 
gun, 10 ;  treaty  with  U.  S. 
in  regard  to  N.  W.  coast, 
94,  95 ;  Astor's  trade 
with,  plans,  69;  Mr. 
Hunt  begins,  jy ;  Hudson 
Bay  Company  trade  with, 
85. 

Sacajawea,  guides  Lewis   and 


Clark  in  Shoshone  re- 
gion, 56. 

Sacramento  Valley,  Sutter's 
Fort  in,  199. 

Salem,  Oregon,  mission  near, 
139  and  n. 

Salmon  River,  gold  mining  on, 
222. 

Sandwich  Islands,  discovered 
and  named  by  Cook,  13. 

San  Diego  Harbour,  discov- 
ered, 6;  fortified,  mission 
at,  lo-ii. 

San  Francisco,  commercial  em- 
porium of  Pacific  Coast, 
204. 

San  Jacinto  (Mt.  Edgecumbe), 
12,  14. 

San  Miguel,  Gulf  of,  i. 

Santa  Fe,  trail  to  from  Mis- 
souri, 106. 

Santiago,  exploring  ship  of 
Perez  and  Heceta,  11. 

Saskatchewan  River,  27,  30  n. 

Scribner's  Magazine  cited,  59  n. 

Sea  Otter,  importance  of,  15, 
16. 

Seattle,  has  profited  most  from 
Alaska  trade,  286,  289. 

Serra,  Father  Junipero,  founder 
of  California  missions, 
10,  II. 

Shepard,  Cyrus,  missionary, 
117,  119  n. 

She  Whaps,  river  and  lake, 
trading  post  for,  76. 

Shively,  J.  M.,  Oregon  emigra- 
tion agent,  146. 

Shoshone  Indians,  assist  Lewis 
and  Clark,  56. 

Siberia,  Ledyard's  journey  to, 
35',  36. 

Sierras,  gold  found  in,  202. 


Index 


321 


Simmons,    Michael    T.,    leads 
first  party  of  settlers  to 
Puget  Sound,  171. 
Simpson,     Sir     George,     visits 

Oregon  in  1841,  138  n. 
Slocum,  Wm.  A.,  sent  to  Pa- 
cific  coast   by    President 
Jackson,  128;  in  Oregon, 
128;      connection      with 
Willamette   Cattle    Com- 
pany, 129-30;  his  report, 
130. 
Smith,  A.  B.,  missionary,  123. 
Jedediah,    partner    of    Rocky 
Mountain  Fur  Company, 
108;      his     explorations, 
108-109. 
Snake     River,     discovered     by 
Clark  and  named  Lewis 
River,  57  and  n. 
Society  Islands,  iii. 
South  Pass,  discovery,  and  first 
use     for     wagons,     109; 
Oregon      Trail      crosses 
Rockies  at,  291. 
Spain,   her  power  on  the   Pa- 
cific,  7 ;    general   decline 
of  after   1588,  7;  power 
tested  by  Anson,  8;  en- 
deavours    to     prosecute 
policy  of  expansion,  10- 
12;  clash  with  British  at 
Nootka  Sound,  18;  aban- 
dons  exclusive  claim  to 
N.   W.   coast,    19;    cedes 
her  rights  to  U.  S.,  93. 
Spalding,    Rev.    H.    H.,    joins 
Whitman  missionary 

party,    121 ;    his    account 
of   the    progress    of    the 
mission        at       Lapwai, 
191 
Spectator,    New    York    news- 


paper,   used    as    source, 
190  n. 
Spokane  River,  trading  post  on, 

74-75- 
Prairie,  described  by  General 
Stevens,  221. 

Star  of  Oregon,  vessel,  built  on 
Willamette,  1841,  138. 

Steptoe,  James,  Jefferson's  let- 
ter to,  33. 

Stevens,  General  Isaac  Ingalls, 
appointed  governor  of 
Washington  Territory, 
212;  account  of  inland 
country,  221 ;  surveys 
northern  route  for  rail- 
way, 237;  made  treaties 
■with   Indian   tribes,   216- 

17- 

St.  James,  H.  B.  Co.  Fort, 
82. 

St.  Louis,  western  trade  centre, 
105. 

Stockraising,  beginnings   of  in 
N.    W.,    83 ;    advantages 
of  Willamette  Valley  for, 
Slocum's  view,  128;  Wil- 
lamette Cattle  Company, 
128-9;  in  Inland  Empire, 
opportunity   for,   220  n. ; 
under  open  range  condi- 
tions,   254;     changes    in 
ranching   business,   great 
cattle   companies,    255-6; 
an   obstacle   to  progress, 
257 ;  dairying,  259. 
Strong  and  Schafer,  "  Govern- 
ment   of    the    Americai. 
People,"  cited,  162  n. 
Stuart,     David,     Pacific     Fur 
Company  partner,  builds 
Fort  Okanogan,  75. 
Robert,    P.    F.    Co.   partner, 


322 


Index 


sent  east  with  dispatches 
for  Mr.  Astor,  76  n. 

Sublette,  Wm.  L.,  with  General 
Ashley,  107;  partner  of 
Rocky  Mt.  Fur  Co.,  108; 
pilots  Wyeth's  party  to 
Rockies,  109. 

Sutter,  Captain  John  A.,  set- 
tles in  California,  builds 
Sutter's  Fort,  199;  gold 
discovery  near,  202. 

Tacoma,  301. 

Thompson,  David,  geographer 
of  N.  W.  Co. ;  his  story 
of  early  explorations 
through  the  Rocky  Mts., 
30  and  n. ;  authentic  dis- 
coveries, founds  trading 
posts,  74;  ai  Astoria,  yz- 

Thorn,  Captain  Jonathan,  in 
charge  of  Tonquin,  70. 

Three  Forks  of  the  Missouri, 
Lewis  and  Clark  at,  56. 

Thwaites,  Dr.  Reuben  Gold, 
publishes  plan  of  Fort 
Clatsop,  59  n.;  edits 
Lewis  and  Clark's  Jour- 
nals, 61. 

Tonquin,  Astor's  first  ship  to 
the  Columbia,  70;  de- 
struction of,  71. 

Tracy,  Reverend  Frederick  P., 
editor  of  Oregonian  and 
Indian's  Advocate,  135. 
Congressman  from  N.  Y.,  op- 
poses     Floyd's      Oregon 
Bill,  99-100. 
Tribune,    New    York,    quoted, 
167   n. ;    Greeley's    edito- 
rial  on   Whitman,   cited, 
184  n. 
Tsimakane,  mission,   123  n. 


Tualatin,  county  of  Oregon, 
17a ;  academy,  208  n. 

Ulloa,  Spanish  explorer,  5. 
Umatilla  Landing,  223. 
Umpqua,  Fort,  82. 
Valley,    settlement    of,    213, 
214. 
Union  Pacific.    See  Railways. 

Vancouver,     Captain     George, 
explorations  of,  19-21. 
Fort.     See  Hudson's  Bay  Co. 

Villard,  Henry,  interest  in  Ore- 
gon Railways,  241 ;  saves 
the  N.  P.  Railway,  or- 
ganizes O.  R.  &  N.  Co., 
242;  "Memoirs"  quoted, 
286-7. 

Vizcaino,  Spanish  explorer,  7. 

Waiilatpu,  Whitman's  mission. 
See  Missions. 

Walker,  C.  M.,  with  Jason  Lee, 
117. 
Reverend       Elkanah,       with 

Whitman,  123. 
Joseph,    leads    part    of    the 
Bonneville  party,  109. 

Walla  Walla  River,  fort  on,  79; 
mission  site  selected  on, 
120;  mission  on,  121. 
Valley,  settlement  of,  220, 
223 ;  agriculture  in,  226. 

Walla  Walla,  distributing  cen- 
tre, 224. 

Waller,  Reverend  A.  F.,  mis- 
sionary, 137. 

Wallula,  223. 

Washington  Territory,  part  of 
Old  Oregon,  separation 
from  in  1853,  212 ;  Gen- 
eral   Stevens    governor. 


Index 


323 


213;  gold  in.  See  Min- 
ing and  Inland  Empire. 
State,  development  of  agri- 
culture, 251,  252,  258; 
farm  land  values  in,  262; 
lumber  production  of, 
272;  fisheries  of,  277; 
exports  and  imports,  286; 
cities  of,  301. 
Webster,  Daniel,  concludes 
treaty    with    Ashburton, 

I74-I75- 

White,  Dr.  Elijah,  Indian  sub- 
agent,  raises  emigrating 
party  for  Oregon,  140. 

Whitman,  Dr.  Marcus,  with  Dr. 
Parker,  i  ig ;  brings  mis- 
sion party  to  Oregon, 
121 ;  founds  interior  mis- 
sions, 121-124;  famous 
ride,  189;  in  the  East, 
190;  return,  difficulties  of 
his  situation,  191 ;  the 
massacre  of  Whitman, 
his  wife,  and  twelve  oth- 
ers, 192. 

Whitman  Question,  statement 
on,  185  n. 

Whitney,  Asa,  his  railroad 
project,  231,  235. 

Wilkes,  Lieutenant  Charles,  in 
Oregon,    138;    views    of 


commercial  development 
of  the  Oregon  and  Cali- 
fornia countries,  284. 
George,  plan  for  a  national 
railroad  to  the  Pacific, 
234-35. 

Wilson,  W.  H.,  missionary,  iig. 

Wood,  T.  B.,  quoted,  167. 

Wyeth,  Nathaniel  J.,  trading 
project,  no;  first  jour- 
ney to  Oregon,  in  ;  sec- 
ond expedition  and  fail- 
ure, 111-112;  journals 
and  letters,  112  n. 


Yakima  Valley,  fruit  growing 
area,  264. 

Yamhill  County,  170. 

Yoncalla,  founded  by  Jesse 
Applegate,  214  n. 

York,  Captain  Clark's  negro, 
51. 

York  Factory,  on  Hudson  Bay, 
80. 

Young,  Ewing,  organizes  Cat- 
tle Company,  129;  sketch 
of  career,  129  n. ;  effect 
of  his  death,  158. 

Young,  Professor  Frederic  G., 
editor  of  Wyeth's  jour- 
nals and  letters,  112  n. 


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